Hyderabad police recovered around Rs 8 lakh cash after they raided the firm's offices on Friday
Two men were arrested on Friday for allegedly cheating around 2,000 people of Rs 9 crore by offering them club and holiday memberships and holiday packages. Posing themselves as 'Managing Directors', the two set up 'Fortune Group of Estates and Services' in June 2017 and hired around 30 people to cold call potential victims and tell them they had won gifts, according to news agency PTI.
The people who would fall for the bait would then be asked to attend seminars or go to hotels to collect prizes. They would then be convinced to take memberships and make payments.
Apart from club and holiday memberships, the firm would offer potential victims plots of land, health club memberships and passes to resorts, according to news agency PTI.
Acting on a tip-off, Hyderabad police's Commissioner's Task Force raided the firm's office in the city's Khairatabad area and arrested the 'managing directors', Shaik Khadar Basha and Panaganti Vijay Kumar, according to an ANI report.
Hyderabad's Deputy Commissioner of Police Radhakishan Rao said the firm's 'managing directors' had hired 30 marketing executives who were assigned the task of collecting contact details of people who visit various shopping malls and multiplexes
From the firm's offices, police recovered around Rs 8 lakh cash, register books, pamphlets, plot allotment documents, rubber stamps, card swiping machines, two mobile phones, silver coin gift packs, holiday package coupons and membership cards.
"Around 30 people were appointed marketing executives and were assigned the task of collecting contact details of people who visit various shopping malls and multiplexes," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Commissioner's Task Force, Radhakishan Rao, adding that further investigation in the case was underway.
"Later, the executives at the customer care would call customers and inform that they had won a prize and could come collect it from some prominent hotel," he added.
Police are also probing how the 'Managing Directors' obtained different documents from the people who were cheated.
(With Inputs From PTI And ANI)