Many times, we have taken financial advice from someone we didn't know or wound up with the wrong person. In the past, how many times have we heeded the wisdom of the sane minds warning us against venturing into the unknown? If we only remembered the famous phrase "Under fair words beware of fraud", we would have had less trouble dealing with investment frauds.

We fall prey to a lot of money scams that aren't just the inventions of an evil mind; they're the reflection of our callous attitude toward our finances. Many investment scams are perpetrated by letting our emotions overrule our rational thinking. The failure to check our email sources or ignore important information about internet scams has caused people affected by internet investment fraud a great deal of grief.

A real story of investors who were defrauded worth crores!

The crime department of the Delhi police arrested two wanted criminals from Bangalore for deceiving investors worth millions of rupees by convincing them with a fake investment scheme. Defendants were identified as Manjunatha Balanna (34 years old) and Ameen Shariff (32 years old), with a reward of Rs 25,000 each. A resident of Shivmoga, Manjunata, and Ameen belongs to Bengaluru. The fraud was revealed when a petitioner identified as Pratyaksh Rana filed a complaint against Manjunatha alleging that the defendant had tricked him into investing in his business to generate high returns. I did. Rohit Meena of the DCP Crime Branch said: that Deputy Inspector Samrat Katyan, lead, and his team searched the suspect's call log details  and zeroed  their location at a hotel in Bangalore

Police further explained that Manjunata began working for a private company after earning an MBA degree. Then he met Thirumalesh, who was working for a trading company. Tilmaresh asked him to provide an investor and assured him that he would share 10 percent of his profits each month. Thirumalesh, along with his friends Harish and Praveen, ran Grand Bloom, an online forex securities firm in Bangalore.

Manjunatha told police that he and his friend Ameen Sheriff's uncle Habibulla Shariff had set up a private company called Tiforp Trading Services. They had previously found some local investors to invest in the company and promised a  return on investment of 5%. Ameen Shariff started working with them for Rs 25,000 a month. He ran the office according to her instructions.

Manjunata then set up another real estate company to expand its business, inviting investors to invest their money. It guaranteed them high returns every month. The entire amount has been transferred to Grand Bloom's bank account. Some investors invested money in their companies, but couldn't make a profit, so they closed their businesses and ran away.

According to Rohit Meena "Ameen obtained SIM cards with his ID at the request of Habibulla and Manjhunatha and provided them to Manjunatha and his cousin Habibulla Shariff. They called consumers and enticed them to invest in their company using these SIM cards. Later, he learned that his cousin Habibulla Shariff, together with his buddy Manjunatha, had defrauded other people of large sums of money. As a result, he left the company and went to work for another." The investors began demanding money from Habibullah and Manjhunatha and began visiting their homes. Habibullah left for Dubai as a result, and Manjhunatha began shifting addresses. In Bengaluru, three cases were filed against them. Bengaluru Police apprehended Thirumalesh and Manjhunatha in 2020 and released them on bail.

What to do In order to avoid investment fraud?

Make inquiries

Fraudsters want you to not investigate before you invest. Prove them wrong by doing research. It’s never enough to ask for more information or for any reference. 

Research, research, and research!

Emails, postings, and company releases should never be used as the only basis for your investment. Understand the business and its products or services before handing them your money. 

Protect yourself on the internet. 

The internet and social marketing sites offer a handful of opportunities for scammers to scam uninformed investors.

Know what to look for. 

Beware of all the red flags and educate yourself to avoid all kinds of investment frauds.

Digital Escrow Service In India to secure your transactions online.

Digital escrow services are offered by many companies in India. Among the most trusted is Vouch

Vouch’s Digital Escrow service is a transparent way for buyers and sellers to build trust and secure a clean transfer of product and payment. Sellers can feel assured that they will be fairly compensated promptly, and buyers will feel confident that their order will be delivered as expected and on schedule. Vouch Digital Escrow keeps you updated and informed at every step of the transaction process till the end. Vouch’s professionals are always available to assist you with all queries that you may have during the entire transaction process. 

There is no scope for deceit or fraud since the payments, shipping, delivery, and execution are carried out under the honest and watchful eyes of the Vouch’s professionals. With Vouch, any business transaction becomes transparent, uncomplicated, and hassle-free. If you ever come across a fraudster asking for OTP, asking you to scan a QR code, or asking you to click on phishing links, you can simply refuse and ask him/her to proceed with the transaction through Vouch.

Check back here to learn more about Escrow and how to protect yourself from fraud.

Safety is not just about protecting your credit, debit card number, and UPI accounts. It's about having control of your money till you've received the product or service you bought online!

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