SHOP OWNER DUPED OF ₹2L IN FAKE PHARMA FRANCHISE CASE

MUMBAI: The Wadala Truck Terminus (TT) police have registered a case against unknown frauds for cheating a medical store owner of ₹2 lakh by posing as representatives of a healthcare platform and selling fake franchises.

The frauds sent an agreement on a bond paper and duped the owner by asking him to pay the franchise charges, refundable deposits, transport, medicine charges etc. The complainant, Kamlesh Jain, 27, owner of RVN Healthcare in Wadala, was surfing the internet when he saw an advertisement offering a franchise of Tata 1mg (a healthcare platform). “When he got in touch with the advertisers, they told him they would get back to him. Later she told him he was selected for the area as a franchise. She then sent him an agreement on his email on a bond paper of ₹1,000 and asked him to deposit ₹15,000 to complete the process. He paid the money via UPI,” said a police officer.

Three days later, he received a call from the advertisers who asked him to send ₹86,800 saying that it was refundable, and Jain paid them. The advertisers again called and asked to send ₹98,920 for GST and ₹1,49,800 as transport and material charges. “The complainant told them to send the refundable money sent by him earlier. They sent some cheques, however upon seeing the cheque, he sensed foul play and approached his neighbour, a lawyer. The lawyer told him that he was being cheated and asked him to approach the police,” said the police officer.

A case was then registered under sections 419 and 420 (cheating) of the IPC and section 66D of the IT Act.