Nearly 2,500 crore embezzled in 2011 `

Chit funds lure people with attractive offers to get rich in a short time, and gullible people actually put their hard earned money in such schemes. And the scams are getting bigger each year. The year 2011 saw more than `2,500 crore embezzled by bogus companies while in the year before, it was just over `600 crore.

Statistics available with the state police suggest that in the last two years, there were nearly `3,500crore worth of scams by chit funds companies and other non-banking financial institutions (NBFC).

Statistics also indicate that though the number of persons involved in these chit fund scams has been a constant through the last four years, the amount of money embezzled has increased manifold in the last two years.

In 2010, chit fund scams were low key with the estimated worth being only a little over `27 crore, but the next two years touched gigantic proportions for chit fund scams.

In 2011, the amount of money embezzled by fraud chit companies was to the tune of `2,411 crore while in 2012, the amount involved in economic offences was about `1,500 crore, out of which a major amount corresponds to chit funds.

In 2013, chit fund scams have already touched the `500-crore mark. If the first four months of the year are any indication of the future, there is a lot more in store.