Now Reading: Kolar work-from-home fraud: four arrested, over 1,000 duped
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Kolar work-from-home fraud: four arrested, over 1,000 duped
Four people have been arrested in Kolar for allegedly operating a work-from-home fraud that promised steady income from packing incense sticks and paper plates. The accused, Bhoomi Kiran Shetty, his wife Aarthi,…
The Story in Brief
Four people have been arrested in Kolar for allegedly operating a work-from-home fraud that promised steady income from packing incense sticks and paper plates. The accused, Bhoomi Kiran Shetty, his wife Aarthi, Ramya, and branch manager Venkatachalapathi, ran Sri Kalikadevi Enterprises. Deccan Herald reports the firm duped more than 1,100 people of over Rs 10 crore. Siasat, however, says police suspect 7,000, 8,000 victims and the total may exceed Rs 50 crore. Victims, many of them unemployed women, had deposited sums ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh in return for monthly payouts.
The company stopped payments three months ago and shut its offices. Complaints have been registered at several police stations across Kolar and Bengaluru rural. The accused are in judicial custody. Investigators are examining bank records to determine the exact amount collected. In a related case, over 350 people have complained of being cheated of more than Rs 6 crore by another establishment.
The Indian Opinion
The sheer scale of this fraud, one report says up to Rs 50 crore, shows the trap is not just greed but a failure of basic safeguards. Unemployed people, especially women, are easy prey when legitimate jobs are scarce. The narrative that victims were merely 'greedy' ignores how these schemes mimic real income promises. The real test now is whether the police can trace and return the deposits, and whether the government will finally mandate KYC for such deposit-taking enterprises.
Sources (2): deccanherald.com, siasat.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above.
Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources.
