Money won’t grow on trees. Sooner the consumer realizes this
better for the society. If any company,
be it limited, private limited, association of individuals, society or person,
is offering huge rate of interest say thirty per cent per annum or more, it is
always better to keep off from them.
It is virtually impossible to give so much rate of interest
for anyone. The case in point is the recent scam of NMart a.k.a. NewLook Retail
Ltd. The company floated by Surat-based Gopal Singh Shekhawat offered enormous
returns on a simple investment of Rs. 5,500. Every member, who is attractively
called distributor though he hardly distributes anything, has to pay an initial
amount of Rs. 5,500 and he would be given a suit length worth about Rs. 1500 (many
members did not receive them that is another matter) and 48 vouchers each
costing Rs. 220 that has to be exchanged in the next 48 months with products in
the retail malls of NMart.
NMart first registered and collected money from the
‘distributors’ all over country and later started malls, which is a misnomer. Almost
all these malls have products like biscuit packets, kurkure, soft drink bottles
and very few toiletries.
NMart has also offered Rs. 200 per enrollment of new members
into the scheme. If a member enrolls 50 members he would get Rs. 10,000 that
means he got hundred per cent returns on enrollment alone.
Apart from commission on enrollment, the members are offered gifts like computers, motorcycles, luxury cars and even foreign jaunts and many more if they enrolled prescribed number of members into the scheme.
And by exchanging coupons with products in the next 48 years
he would get 220x48= 10,560. It is again hundred per cent appreciation of what he
invested in four years.
There is one more offer, if a member purchases products
worth Rs. 1500 every month for the next 48 months, he would be given an
incentive of Rs. 11,000. This is again hundred per cent appreciation of his
initial investment of Rs. 5500. It is all very inducing for the common man to
simply brush it off.
Where does the NMart get all these money from? Nobody
questions. The greedy people enrolled speedily and it spread like a wildfire. Like
all Ponzi schemes, the NMart would pay the early birds from the payments of
late birds and once chain breaks, he would vanish with all the money.
If any NMart member has any problem like breach of contract he has to go to Surat to file a civil suit and it is impossible to go to Surat to claim a settlement for the money he invested in the company as the expenses are far more than his investment.
Anyway, he has already started enjoying life with people's money going around on a helicopter and a
Rolls Royce.
Corporate Frauds Watch, Vijayawada-based civil society
organization, smelled rat in it and lodged a complaint with the police way back
in 2010. The police as usual were complacent to such complaints and let it
grow. However, Gopal Singh Shekhawat, like all Ponzi scheme operators, filed a
writ petition in the AP High Court and the police stopped the investigation
stating that there is a writ petition pending in the high court.
By 2012, the membership of the company has touched almost 1.5 million. Corporate Frauds Watch has been lodging complaints with various
agencies all over the State. Finally, the Prakasam district police under the
guidance of its dynamic and incorruptible IPS officer Dr N Raghurami Reddy went
ahead and took the complaint on file. The rest is history.
Gopal Singh Shekhawat filed another writ petition in AP High
Court questioning the propriety of Corporate Frauds Watch but it was dismissed
as withdrawn on October 9, 2012.
Money won’t grow on trees and sooner the people realized
this better for the society.
Wake up Consumers! Don’t fall for the easy and quick money.
