Customers of a private chit fund company in the city on Wednesday reportedly cornered the staff of the firm after realising they had been duped of their investments.
The customers, numbering over 20, came to the firm’s office after the company’s cheques bounced.
The Chennai-headquartered company that also had offices elsewhere in Tamil Nadu, including Salem, Coimbatore, Tiruchi, Madurai, Puducherry, and Tirupur, had attracted investors claiming that as a government-registered entity, it had mobilised 10,000 customers over four years of existence.
The investment schemes ranged from Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 10,00,000, requiring subscription of Rs. 2,500 to Rs. 50,000 per month for 20 month duration.
The customers also had the option of making daily payment ranging from Rs. 80 to Rs. 1,600.
The customers were enraged as the cheques the company had given them for claiming the matured amounts had bounced.
They subsequently were given to understand that the company’s websites: www.bharathamchitfunds.com/ bharathamchits.com do not exist.
In the case of the latter website, the domain name expired on May 11, 2014.
At the instance of the customers, the police established contact with the firm’s administrative officials.
The company was said to have sought time until June 15 for settling the dues of all its customers, sources said.
According to R. Murugesan, a functionary of Ambedkar Desiya Makkal Katchi, who espoused the cause of the company’s customers with the police department, the amount invested by customers in Erode district alone runs into several crores of rupees.
Customers are also to be blamed for believing in the claims of such companies without considering the risks involved, according to Mr. Murugesan.
Such companies operate with the confidence that they could draw customers at ease by projecting their government-registration details prominently.
The police who have learnt that customers in other places in Tamil Nadu have also been cheated similarly, are in the process of ascertaining whether the company had flouted norms by operating outside Chennai, sources said.
