Gullible people still fall prey to fly-by-night chit fund firms

In the last two years about 15 white collar crimes involving hundreds of crores of rupees had surfaced in Visakhapatnam. Most of the drugs are post surgery sedatives and are available only on prescription from registered medical practitioners or hospitals.

The recent unearthing of a fraud chit fund company being run by a family, once again brings to light that citizens are still falling prey to such companies and Ponzi schemes, despite a number of such cases being detected.

In the last two years there were about 15 such white collar crimes that had surfaced and the accused were arrested and the amount involved was to the tune of hundreds of crores of rupees.

According to Commissioner of Police B. Shivadhar Reddy, people are lured by the high interest rates and returns that these companies offer and fall prey to it. “People should at least now realise and stop investing in such dubious companies. It is always safe to put the hard-earned money in banks or good and reputed chitfund companies,” said the Commissioner.

According to Mr. Shivadhar Reddy, the investors should look into certain basic factors before investing their money. Giving a few tips he said: Never invest in companies that promise high and quick returns on investment, check whether the company is registered with institutions such as Registrar of Companies, browse the web to find out if the company is listed under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and finally find out if the company is governed by the Chit Funds Act of 1982.

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Though the City of Destiny has still kept itself free to a large extent from major drugs such as cocaine or heroin, the use of anaesthetic injections, tablets and cough syrup with alcohol content is on the rise.

In the last four months the police arrested about six peddlers and recovered sizeable quantity of syrups, tablets and injections such as Fortwin. According to Commissioner of Police B. Shivadhar Reddy, the situation is not alarming but it needs to be checked.

Most of these drugs are post surgery sedatives and are available only on prescription from registered medical practitioners or hospitals. Though a few medical shops do sell it on the sly, but the major portion of the material is smuggled from neighbouring states like Odisha and Chhattisgarh, said a City Task Force official.

But unique part is the profile of users. They vary from street children and daily wage earners to youth who come in swanky cars. And the rate of the drugs depends on the profile of the users.