The APMC police have registered a case against three men for cheating people under a ‘pay per click’ scheme.
Ratiranjan Raul, manager of a hotel in APMC, registered the case against Rajendrakumar Negi, Rakesh Ranjan and Niyaz Ahmed who run STG Media at Satra Plaza in Vashi. Raul met an agent of the company at the hotel who asked him to buy schemes costing between ₹5,000 and ₹1 lakh.
Mahadev Gondhali, Assistant Police Inspector at Economic Offence Wing (I), said, “The agent said after buying the scheme, a person will have to create an account on the company’s website. The company would then send links to the account daily. The person would have to click the link and he would be paid ₹5 per click. The number of links sent every day would depend on the scheme chosen by the person.” The scheme promised 10-fold returns and extra bonus points. Persons who made referrals to join the scheme would earn additional 10% returns.
Raul invested in schemes amounting to ₹2.56 lakh in January. The company paid him for four months and then stopped. The company told Raul that the schemes in which he had invested had been stopped.
Mr. Gondhali said, “Six people have been cheated of ₹14 lakh. We appeal to people who have been cheated by the firm to approach us. The company has taken a stand that they are facing losses and hence have discontinued the schemes. We are yet to arrest the accused. The company does not have legal permission from RBI to run such schemes.”
