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Tag: fraud

  • The Piyush Jain Case – Perfume Bizman of UP and Black Money Hoarder

    If you have gone through the news, you will find a story of a Kanpur businessman surfacing everywhere. Packets of seized currency notes after Income Tax officials’ raid at the premises of businessman Piyush Jain, in Kanpur, on December 24, 2021. Piyush is a businessman of perfumes in the perfume capital of India. India’s tax authorities have seized wads of currency notes running into millions of dollars and several kilograms of gold from the premises of the businessman.

    This article is about Piyush, the money recovered and everything in between and after that. We will read about the perfume capital of India. How Piyush is found guilty, how did the money that was found come to Piyush and where is he now ?

    The Piyush Jain Case
    Kanauj – The Perfume Capital of India
    The ‘Eyebrow raising’ Simple life of Piyush Jain
    Political Agenda Behind the Piyush Jain Case
    The Same Name issue
    The Pile of Money Recovered from Piyush Jain
    FAQ

    The Piyush Jain Case

    It was the 24th of December when a news story showed that a Kanpur based perfume businessman was caught with about 200 crores of cash in his house. Piyush Jain, the Kanpur based perfume trader was found with this questionable amount of money in his house.

    Tax officials raided his house and found this enormous amount of money and kilograms of gold. The simple and normal looking person as Piyush was to the outsiders, the news piece was a surprise not only for the country but even to the people who knew him.

    The intelligence wing of the goods and services tax department found unaccounted wealth, including around 23 kilograms of gold in the form of biscuits and currency worth over $24 million, from a perfume trader. The seizures were carried out at the premises of Trimurti Fragrance Pvt Ltd, Odochem Industries and a transport company called Ganpati Road Carriers, all based in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

    “This is the biggest ever seizure of cash by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs. The documents seized from the premises are under scrutiny,” the statement said. During interrogation, Jain also accepted that the cash recovered from Odochem Industries is related to the sale of goods without payment of GST.

    Kanauj – The Perfume Capital of India

    Kannauj is a little city in Kanpur in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The fact that its history is rich in the fragrance of perfume makes it the perfume capital of India. Being the perfume capital in the second-most populous country in the world elevates its already shiny appearance to the country and the world outside.

    The city of Kannauj is a little over 2 hours away from Kanpur in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The fact that Kanauj is primarily known for making perfumes should not be regarded as a ticket for cheap perfumes with quality. Even better, you will find the very popular variety of perfumes called attar. Attar is the regal perfume of the ancient world.

    It is said that the city has a long history of making perfumes. Some experts even say that the perfume practice dates back up to thousands and thousands of years. The art of attar is well known in the city.

    While perfumes are made from alcohol or have some or the other constituent that is based out of alcohol, the attar is completely different. Attar is made from essential oils, which makes it unique and attractive.

    The ‘Eyebrow raising’ Simple life of Piyush Jain

    Piyush Jain lived a very simple life. He never indulged in any sort of luxury behaviour or any expense that seems unusual. He lived a simple life, had a simple car, and always dressed simply.

    Piyush’s father was a soap manufacturer hailing from Mumbai. Piyush and his brother were noticeably studious and both went on to get masters in the stream of science. The brother’s wives had bachelors degrees in science. They were a single-family with knowledge of science in abundance. With that knowledge, they started manufacturing compounds of perfumes.

    The family mastered the art of manufacturing sandalwood oil through chemicals at a low cost, rather than from natural sandalwood, and thus started earning huge profits. Piyush Jain used to sell the perfume compounds to different foreign clients. Among others, he also supplied fragrance to the Shikhar Pan Masala company.

    Let us see what people have to say about the case and the “Eyebrow raising” simple life of arrested Piyush Jain.

    Mr. Suresh, who has known Mr. Piyush Jain for four decades, said there was no criminal case against anyone in their locality. Mr. Piyush Jain is a “wonderful human being” who lived a “simple life” and did not even carry any security with him, said Mr. Suresh. “I cannot understand how he got trapped in this matter,” he added.

    One of the close acquaintances of Piyush Jain said Jain always used to dress simply. Besides his bungalow, He owned a scooter and used to drive around his Hyundai Santro and an old Toyota car.

    According to Mr Gupta, Mr. Piyush Jain’s father worked in a soap manufacturing company in Mumbai. Piyush and his brother both had masters degrees in science while their wives had bachelors degrees in science. Using this knowledge of chemicals, the family started manufacturing compounds for perfumes, said Mr. Gupta.

    The family mastered the art of manufacturing sandalwood oil through chemicals at a low cost, rather than from natural sandalwood, and thus started earning huge profits, said Mr. Gupta.

    Mr. Gupta also said Mr. Piyush Jain “had a lot of faith in his religion” and made contributions of ₹60-70 lakh for the building and revamp of two Jain temples, including one in Tirwa.

    A perfume trader from the Jain community said he would often bump into Mr Piyush Jain at the temple. “He is a simple and sober person, had nothing to do with the society, even to the extent that he never made anyone his confidant,” said the trader.

    PNB Scam: How Did Banks Lose Money in Nirav Modi Case
    Nirav Modi defrauded the banks of over Rs14,000 crore with his uncle Mehul Choksi. Here’s how he operated the PNB scam and took the loan from the banks.
    StartupTalkyManav Makhija

    Political Agenda Behind the Piyush Jain Case

    PM Narendra Modi publicly announced that Uttar Pradesh has a fragrance of corruption and black money under the rule of SJ. SJ here means the Samajwadi party, a leading political party in the state of UP.

    As it is the time of elections and each and every political party is trying to prove that they are the clearest and clean. This news of Piyush Jain, a perfume trader, stacking hundreds of crores told a completely different story.

    PM also alleged the Samajwadi party for being related to the scam and corruption in the perfume capital of India. The case has turned into a political agenda where the motive is to qin elections.

    The Same Name Issue

    According to the most recent reports, there are actually two P.Jains in the city of Kannuj. One is the arrested Piyush Jain and the other person is named Pushpraj Jain. Pushpraj is also a perfume trader and has the same name initials.

    The 60-year-old Pushpraj Jain is a “philanthropist” in Kannauj and a politician who also owns a petrol pump and a cold storage unit and has a house and an office in Mumbai.

    The news probe stated that there must have been a change of names and the wrong person was raided. It raises more concerns on the authority to recheck the records and make sure that the correct person is raided. If this raid was unnatural then there can be supposedly more traders with black money.

    The Pile of Money Recovered from Piyush Jain

    On the 24th of December, it was reported after a raid on Piyush’s residence that a huge sum of money was recovered from his home. The directorate general of GST intelligence said that the first amount that they recovered was about 177 crore rupees from the residential premises of Odochem Industries in Kanpur. It was one of the biggest raids and seizures by the CBIC officials.

    Piyush Jain Kanpur Raid
    Piyush Jain Kanpur Raid

    The Directorate General of GST Intelligence said it first recovered unaccounted cash of ₹177.45 crores from the residential premises of Odochem Industries in Kanpur, in the biggest ever seizures by the CBIC (Central Board of indirect taxes and customs) officials.

    The story doesn’t end here, it was probably the beginning. The DGGI officers then recovered ₹17 crores in cash from the residential factory of Odochem Industries in Kannauj, while also recovering around 23 kgs of gold and a huge quantity of raw materials used in the manufacture of perfumery compounds. Everything until this segment was unaccounted for.

    The newfound materials included more than 600 kg of sandalwood oil hidden in underground storage. That alone had a market value of about ₹6 crores. Moreover, the gold that was recovered had foreign markings, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) was roped in for necessary investigation, said the DGGI.

    Vijay Mallya: The Story of Fame and Shame and How he defrauded banks
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    Conclusion

    The perfume capital of India is famous for its perfumes, the practice dates back thousands of years. This new smell of black money stocking really stains such a great history. Piyush has been arrested and he is waiting for his trials at the court of law. As of now, he is spending time thinking about what he will do now to bail out of this situation.

    We don’t think there is much of a light left for him, as this is such a big case of black unaccounted money. Some say that this amount of money is related to political parties in Uttar Pradesh. This has also become a new political agenda where politicians play the blame game. However, This case has a lot to do with businesses and the income that they can hide successfully and illegally.

    The government has to make strict rules to make not just the perfume capital but the whole of India devoid of unaccounted money.

    FAQ

    What was the business of Piyush Jain?

    Piyush Jain was a perfume trader and he used to sell the perfume compounds to different foreign clients.

    What did Piyush Jain do?

    Piyush Jain was arrested on charges of evasion of Goods and Services Tax (GST).

  • PNB Scam: How Did Banks Lose Money in Nirav Modi Case

    Banks play an important role in the economic development of the financial sector of India. They are running a business that involves all the transactions done by every person. As banks are running a business, sometimes they earn and sometimes they lose. The very common cause of banks losing money is the inability to collect the money-back which was distributed as and if they have a concentration of loans in a particular business segment that falls in hard times, those losses are even more severe.

    In 2018, Punjab National Bank, one of India’s largest public-sector banks experienced a fraud of INR 11,400 crores at its Brady House branch located in Mumbai. The accused person was Mr Nirav Modi, a well-renowned diamond maker of India. Here’s the complete story of how the PNB scam was unfolded.

    Who is Nirav Modi?
    Nirav Modi’s Business of Luxury Diamond
    How did Nirav Modi Avail Loans from Banks?
    How Nirav Modi Operated the PNB Scam?
    FAQ

    Who is Nirav Modi?

    Nirav Modi is an Indian fugitive businessman; he is the founder of Firestar Diamond International and his uncle Mehul Choksi is the chairman of Gitanjali Group. These two companies were involved in the Diamond business and had a retail chain of 4000+ stores in India.

    Nirav was brought up in Belgium and did his early schooling at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He came back to Mumbai and started with his family business of jewellery manufacturing.

    Nirav Modi’s Business of Luxury Diamond

    In 1999, he founded Firestar. After working for years and getting experience in the business Nirav in 2008 launched a diamond store bearing his name in New Delhi. Seeing and attracting a huge crowd he thought of opening more stores and started the 2nd store in Mumbai followed by 17 more stores. Nirav launched his stores globally with stores in New York and Hong Kong city.

    Nirav Modi Store
    Nirav Modi Store

    According to news, his company had a presence in 12 countries with 30 boutiques in 2018. Firestar is the only diamond manufacturing company in India to source the coveted Argyle pink diamonds, found only in Western Australia.

    At this time Nirav was also looking to expand its product line with more affordable pieces. He became a lot popular after designing his “Golconda Lotus Necklace” with an old, 12-carat, pear-shaped diamond as a centerpiece in the year 2010. The diamond had previously been sold in the 1960s and had to be repolished.

    Golconda Lotus Necklace
    Golconda Lotus Necklace

    Stores were running very well and were recognized as a theme of pure luxury, many Indian celebrities were doing the advertisement for Nirav Modi’s jewellery. Nirav Modi was also featured in the Forbes list of Indian Billionaires in 2013. To run such a vast and huge business globally he was always in the need of funds which he took from small public sector banks.

    How did Nirav Modi Avail Loans from Banks?

    At first, he started with a small number of loans which he was able to repay the bank within the time limit. The first fraud started in 2010 when Nirav took the loan with the help of a fake letter of undertaking issued by PNB bank at its Brady House branch. Letter of Undertaking is said to be a sort of guarantee that is issued by a banking entity to the concerned party for attaining short-term credit from the overseas branch of an Indian bank.

    How Nirav Modi Operated the PNB Scam?

    Nirav thought of this as an easy way to obtain short-term credit. He then started giving fake Lou’s to the bank and used to obtain a lump sum amount of money. Nirav managed to get 1,212 more such guarantees in the next 6-7 years.

    The Letters of Understanding were signed in favour of Indian bank branches for the one-year import of pearls, with the Reserve Bank of India’s guidelines allowing for a total of 90 days from the date of shipping. The guideline mentioned in the letters were ignored by overseas branches of Indian banks. They disregarded providing any documents or information with PNB that had been made accessible to them by the companies when they applied for loans.

    When PNB approached banks to provide a 100% cash margin, the bank argued they had availed this facility in the past as well. The transactions were never registered in the bank’s main system, leaving PNB management in the dark for years. This suspected there could be a fraud that led to them digging further into the transaction history.

    Later it was found out that PNB employees were also involved in this process of providing fraud loans. They got the commission from Nirav and used to do the job for him. PNB employees used the SWIFT network to send messages to Allahabad Bank and Axis Bank regarding financial requirements.

    At that time they found that these letters were on a fraud basis and the money was transferred to Dummy accounts of firms that were inactive in business and were acting according to the command of Nirav Modi. A total of INR 6,400 crore acquired through PNB Lou’s was transferred abroad to buy real estate and personal property through “dummy corporations.”

    Nirav Modi New York House
    Nirav Modi New York House

    All these methods were used by him to transfer the money received by these banks for business purposes and were spent on his personal use and luxury. He escaped India in January 2018 after which a warrant was issued by the CBI and Enforcement Directorate to arrest him.

    Vijay Mallya: The Story of Fame and Shame and How he defrauded banks
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    Conclusion

    The PNB scam is said to be one of the biggest fraud cases in India’s banking history to date. Till now the Government authorities of India have sealed and auctioned several thousand crores worth of properties and assets of Modi. Yet the government has not been able to get money recovered in full.

    There is a need for improvement in our Indian Banking Sector and mainly a focus on providing the loans and credit facilities to the people who need them the most and who can repay without making defaults.

    FAQ

    How did Nirav Modi get loans?

    Nirav took the loan with the help of a fake letter of understanding issued by PNB bank.

    How much money did Nirav Modi borrow from the bank?

    Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi defrauded the bank of over Rs 14,000 crore.

    In which year did Nirav Modi take the loan?

    Nirav Modi took the first loan from PNB on March 10, 2011, and later managed to get 1,212 more such guarantees over the next 74 months.

  • The Biggest Ponzi Schemes in Modern History

    There are only two ways to be successful and have a ridiculous amount of money. The first way is to do the work, put in the hours, work super hard. The second or the other way is to quickly pull out a scam, expose loopholes, thug people and earn millions in a short period of time.

    Now, which way is ethical and which way is unethical, that would be another topic for some other day. Here we are to discuss some of the most unethical ways people pulled out in history to create a ruckus. The biggest Ponzi schemes of the world.

    A Ponzi scheme is a form of fraud that is performed by a dummy organisation, built with the sole purpose to defraud people by luring them to good schemes to get the money and vanish. We will go with a list of top Ponzi schemes and numbers do mean a lot in here –  

    Madoff Investment Scandal
    MMM
    Stanford Financial Group
    Caritas (Ponzi Scheme)
    FAQ

    Madoff Investment Scandal

    Bernie Madoff
    Bernie Madoff

    There was a person named Bernie Madoff who was a popular American financier and who allegedly executed what is said to be the largest Ponzi scheme in history, defrauding thousands of investors of tens of billions of dollars over the course of 17 years, and maybe even longer.

    He was also the chairman of the Nasdaq in the early 1990s. He died in prison on April 14, 2021, while serving a 150-year sentence for money laundering, securities fraud and several other felonies. Yes, you read it right, 150 years in sentence and he died during the ongoing term.

    Bernie came up with promises of unbelievable and steady returns through an investing strategy known as split-strike conversion, which is funnily a real trading strategy.

    He simply deposited funds (from clients) into one bank account which he used to pay existing investors who wanted to cashback. He funded retrievals by attracting new investors with good capital but was unable to maintain this transaction balance when the market turned upside down in 2008.

    He admitted to his sons who worked at his firm but, he claimed later, were not aware of the scheme as of December 2008. They turned him to the authorities the very next day. The fund’s last statements indicated it had a whopping $64.8 billion in client assets.

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    MMM

    Sergei Mavrodi
    Sergei Mavrodi

    Sergei Panteleevich Mavrodi with such a spell of a name was a Russian financial fraudster, supercriminal and previously a deputy of the State Duma. He was the founder of МММ, a scheme or basically a company that defrauded millions of people around the world. He was the Deputy of a state and that made him a trustworthy individual and the trust was misused.

    MMM was established in 1989 by Sergei Mavrodi, his brother Vyacheslav Mavrodi, and Olga Melnikova. The name of the company is simply the initials of the founders’ surnames.

    In the beginning, Sergei operated a network of enterprises importing computers. In 1992, tax police accused MMM of tax evasion, leading to the collapse of a subsidiary which was a bank, Suffocating the company of financial support.

    Facing difficulties in funding its foreign trade, the company jumped into the financial domain. It offered American stocks to Russian investors, but the new business was met with little success.

    The MMM Ponzi scheme was launched in February 1994, promising quite some super annual returns of up to 3000%. The company started an aggressive TV ad campaign, spending a lot of money to get to the most investors.

    The advertisement campaign appealed to the general public by using “ordinary” characters that viewers could relate to. The most popular of them was a “folk hero” of early 1994, Lyonya Golubkov.

    Another notable marketing effort was a giveaway of free Metro trips to all citizens on a certain day. That was how the scheme was popularised and landed on the plates of investors. This became the recipe for a successful scam and thugged the public.

    Stanford Financial Group

    Allen Stanford
    Allen Stanford

    The Stanford financial group was an international organisation that provided financial services. They were privately owned and the company was managed by Allen Stanford. Headquartered in Uptown Houston, Texas, it had 50 offices around the world. It was seized by the United States authorities in 2009. It was said to have managed a whopping US$8.5 billion of assets for clients that were more than 30,000 and in around 136 countries of six continents.

    On February 17, 2009, US federal guys entered the Houston offices and Law officials placed signs on the office doors stating that the company was temporarily closed, but the company was in operation but under the management of a receiver.

    The feds placed charges of fraud due to that receivership and ten days after that the U.S. The Securities and Exchange Commission amended its complaint to accuse Stanford of turning the company into a “huge Ponzi scheme“.

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    Caritas (Ponzi Scheme)

    Ioan Stoica
     Ioan Stoica

    Caritas means ‘charity’ in Latin, which is quite ironic for such a Ponzi scheme originated in Romania that was active from 1992 to 1994, that is for around two years. The company was founded by Ioan Stoica.

    It attracted millions of investors and depositors from all over the country, who invested millions of dollars in that scheme in hope of amazing returns before it finally went down or went bankrupt on the 14th of August 1994, having a debt of whooping US$450 million ($786 million in current terms).

    It covered itself wearing a blanket of “mutual-aid”. It showcased itself as an enterprise aimed at helping Romanians during the transition (Capitalism) and it lured investors with a promise of a good eight times the capital they initially invested in a matter of six months.

    Caritas prospered this scheme with the help of a relation it had with the Romanian National Unity Party (PUNR) and the mayor of Napoca, Gheorghe Funar, who helped this scheme to set up and even helped it garner good trust by renting them space in the Cluj hall, appearing with Stoica in public and on television they managed to get some trust from the general public.

    Funar even went ahead and paid for space in the local newspaper to publish a list of the chosen ones, who would see their money multiply 8 fold; the list had 44 pages per day less than a month before the Ponzi firm collapsed. It went bankrupt.

    Its bankruptcy made the Romanian government active and it searched and closed down such schemes. The government even got warnings about the scheme from several mediums, including the Intelligence Service of Romania, which wrote a report in early 1993 (which was leaked) and from the Chief Economist at the National Bank, Daniel Dăianu, who straightforwardly called it a fraud.

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    Conclusion

    The above article discussed some of the biggest Ponzi schemes witnessed in the world. There are surely much more other than these, some small in scale and some even wider in scale. These are people who used loopholes in their favour and even discovered them when they needed to. All this takes courage and the will to know the game well in order to steer the wheel in a Ponzi direction.

    All this shows a human character getting to the worst of creativity and shortcuts to earn quickly by defrauding the trust of millions. This is how ugly can trade happens when performed by tricksters.

    This also shows how important it is to be in the know about what’s happening around us and how to get rid of ignorance where most people live. Get to know these masterminds, learn how laws can be bent and learn how you can safeguard yourself. In a world of democratised information, ignorance should be left behind.

    FAQ

    How can you spot a Ponzi scheme?

    If the scheme offers “Guaranteed” High Returns, Consistent High Returns and has Unlicensed Sellers it might be a Ponzi scheme.

    What are some of the biggest Ponzi schemes?

    Madoff Investment Scandal, Stanford financial group, and MMM are some of the biggest Ponzi schemes.

    What is a Ponzi scheme?

    A Ponzi scheme is a form of fraud that is performed by a dummy organisation, built with the sole purpose to defraud people.

  • Story of Mukund Mohan and his Fraud | Who is Mukund Mohan?

    Mukund Mohan is a 48 year old Indian American Tech Executive and Investor that has been sentenced for perpetuating a scheme to fraudulently obtaining more than $1.8 million worth of Covid 19 disaster relief loans. Mukund Mohan was sentenced to a two-year prison on 25th August by the Western District of Washington. Mukund Mohan is a former Amazon, Microsoft Ventures executive and well-known curator at Vangal.

    Before getting caught, Mukund Mohan was a well-known angel investor who was based in Clyde Hill of Washington state. Mukund Mohan completed his education in Computer Science at Mysore University, India and then rose to become the Director of Engineering at Microsoft in America. After that Mohan became an entrepreneur in Bengaluru and also claimed to be the founder of over five companies.

    How Mukund Mohan claimed the Covid 19 Relief Funds
    The charges against Mukund Mohan
    Mukund Mohan’s past claims for fame
    Frequently Asked Questions

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    How Mukund Mohan claimed the Covid 19 Relief Funds

    To cover up the fraud, the infamous investor was known to have submitted fake and altered documents, which also included fake federal tax filing and incorporation documents with altered information. Mohan initially wanted over $5.5 million through eight fraudulent disaster loan applications and in order to claim these benefits, the fake documents included tax filling of six companies are Zuput, GitGrow, Vangal, Expect Success, Mahenjo Inc and Zigantic LLC.

    Only five out of the eight fraudulent loan applications were approved, bringing the total up to $1.8 million. According to sources, the funds were taken in order to help small startups retain their workers during the difficult time of the Covid 19 Pandemic where small startups would not have a steady capital flow. Mohan was arrested in the month of July 2020, for forging fake and altered documents in order to acquire over $5.5 million from Covid relief funds.

    Mukund Mohan giving a speech

    Based on the complaints, one particular company he applied loans for with misleading statements and false documents was Mohenjo. This company was purchased by Mohan in May 2020, which at the time did not have any employees or business activities. But according to Mohan’s fake documents the company was said to be in operation from the year 2019 and had employees for whom the company paid millions of dollars for employers salaries and payroll taxes.

    Mukund Mohan went on to plead on his blog on 14th August 2020 saying that,

    “I hurt people who trusted me, believed in me, and now are beside themselves. Unfortunately, I cannot talk about the details given the legal circumstances, but I truly apologise… I own my mistake, and now I have to course correct. Seeking help is what I am doing. I think the road ahead, though, will be very long,” Mukund Mohan.

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    The charges against Mukund Mohan

    Mukund Mohan is now accused of perpetuating a scheme to obtain Covid-19 disaster relief loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration through the Economic Injury Disaster Loan and Paycheck Protection Program which are under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

    According to the press release of the United States Department of Justice, the techie has now been ordered to pay a fine of $100,000 and $1,786,357 in restitution. Mohan is now pleading guilty to wire fraud and money laundering with regard to his scheme of obtaining over $5.5 million under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

    Mukund Mohan’s past claims for fame

    This was not the first time Mukund Mohan has been involved with fraud cases, malpractices and fraudulent claims. From 2008 to 2012, Mohan had also made false claims of being a co-founder of over five startups, investing in 11 companies personally and three other companies through Napkin Stage (an investment firm).

    Out of the five startups that were said to be found by him, four startups excluding BuzzGain failed as they didn’t raise any funds. Whereas out of the three other companies said to be funded via Napkin Stage, ChargeBee and SignEasy clarified by saying that Napkin Stage was only an advisor and did not fund them.

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    Frequently Asked Questions

    Who is Mukund Mohan?

    Mukund Mohan is a 48-year-old Indian American Tech Executive and a well known Angel Investor.

    What did Mukund Mohan get caught for?

    Mukund Mohan got sentenced for perpetuating a scheme to fraudulently obtaining more than $1.8 million worth of Covid 19 disaster relief loans.

    What are the charges against Mukund Mohan?

    Mukund Mohan has been sentenced to two years in prison and has been ordered to pay a fine of $100,000 and $1,786,357 in restitution.

  • Mehul Choksi – How he lost the sparkle? [Case Study]

    The 63 year old diamond trader is wanted by the Indian legislative authorities for the charges of money laundering, criminal conspiracy, corruption, cheating  and dishonesty. He is also accused in the PNB scam case. He is an Indian born citizen who later took citizenship in Antigua and Barbuda in 2017. He owns the Gitanjali Group, which is a retail jewellery group with an extensive network of showrooms across India.

    It was in 1985 that he took over Gitanjali Gems from his father which was the beginning of all the frauds to unfold. From various credible sources, it can be learnt that he is admitted in the Dominica China Friendship hospital in Roseau as of 30th May 2021.

    On 26th May, after lots of efforts from law enforcement authorities, the scammer cum trader was arrested in the island country of Dominica.

    Mehul Choksi – Latest News
    The Beginning of the End for Mehul Choksi
    The Final Escape of Mehul Choksi
    The Story Now of Mehul Choksi
    Mehul Choksi Timeline
    FAQ

    Mehul Choksi – Latest News

    31 May 2021

    Mehul Choksi was admitted to the hospital after he tests negative for Covid -19.

    29 May 2021

    Mehul Choksi was seen in custody with his left hand and eyes bruised.

    27 May 2021

    Mehul Choksi’s lawyer clarifies that he can only be deported to Antigua and not to India according to Immigration and Passport Act Section 17 and 23 since he is an antiguan citizen.

    27 May 2021

    The Antiguan Prime Minister Gaston Browne has requested Dominica to deport Choksi directly to India. If he is deported to Antigua, then he will be able to enjoy the protections given for a citizen.

    23 May 2021

    Mehul Choski goes missing from Antigua and Barbada. His lawyer and himself says that he was abducted.

    The Beginning of the End for Mehul Choksi

    The history of a long drawn out bank fraud came into light as PMLA issued non-bailable arrest warrants against Mehul Choksi, Nirav Modi and Neeshal Deepak Modi. They have been involved in a $1.8 billion scam in the second largest public sector bank, Punjab National Bank. The bank claims that Choksi along with Nirav Modi colluded with the employees to illegally obtain money from the bank.

    Although he claims to be innocent even in an open letter, it does not go along with the fact that he left to the Carribean nation Antigua and Barbada just before the scam was disclosed.

    His oath taking as a citizen of the same country a few days the after disclosure further adds oil to the fire. Later, the PMLA authorities responsible for the investigation found out that 41 properties that were held by the Enforcement Directorate in the name of Mehul Choksi were money laundering assets.

    They ordered for the attachment of these properties worth 1210 crore. Following the order, a mall in Kolkata, 15 flats and 17 office premises in Mumbai, a four-acre farm house in Alibaug and 231 acres of land at locations like Nashik, Nagpur, Panvel in Maharashtra and Villupuram in Tamil Nadu were attached by the ED in keeping up with the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

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    The Final Escape of Mehul Choksi

    There was confirmed information that Mehul Choksi was there in Antigua and Barbuda. However, he went missing on May 23,2021. His car was later discovered in the Jolly Harbour area which strengthened the assumptions that  he escaped to Cuba. However, the truth was revealed as he was confirmed to be in the Carribean country of Dominica.

    Since he was trying to flee to Cuba, this attempt can be used by the CBI to strengthen their claims for extradition. Another twist to the plot came when Choksi’s advocate alleged that he was kidnapped by someone who Choksi believes to be an Indian and Antiguan police into Dominica in a boat.

    The Story Now of Mehul Choksi

    The High Court of Justice Commonwealth of Dominica has stayed the extradition order of the scammer. The pictures of his swollen eyes and injured left hand are flooding the social media.

    The efforts of Indian agencies have not ceased. They continued to call the Antiguan government to extradite him by claiming that he is in fact an Indian citizen and has an Interpol Red Corner Notice issued in his name. Another group of people says that the Red Corner Notice cannot be used in this case since the task of locating the criminal is already done.

    At the same time, the Antiguan opposition party is clearly making use of this opportunity to support Choksi against the extradition claims of India. It is widely perceived as their attempts to later procure campaign funding from Choksi as a return gift.

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    Mehul Choksi Timeline

    January 2018

    • Mehul Choksi leaves India for the USA. He fled through Mumbai International Airport
    • Punjab National Bank files complaint against Mehul Choksi and Nirav Modi for defrauding the bank by colluding with the bank employees
    • CBI files probe against the scammers (Mehul Choksi, Nirav Modi, Nishal Modi). Raids and searches were also done.

    February 2018

    • The amount involved in the fraud was disclosed to be $1.7 billion.
    • CBI files case against the Gitanjali group.
    • PNB CEO announces that the losses are hoped to be compensated in 6 months.
    • Union Bank of India announces its exposure of $300 million in association with the PNB scam while of State Bank of India, it was $212 million.
    • Choksi claims to be innocent.

    July 2018

    • Interpol at the request of CBI issues Red Corner Notice against Mehul Choksi.
    • Choksi reaches Antigua after taking oath of citizenship earlier in 2018.

    March 2019

    • The UK Home Secretary accepts the extradition request of CBI and the files were to Westminster court.

    May 2021

    • Mehul Choksi goes missing.
    • Later he gets caught in Dominica.
    • CBI is waiting for the clearance of extradition.

    FAQ

    What did Mehul Choksi do?

    Mehul Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi are the key accused in the 2018-Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam which was estimated to be around ₹13,500 crores.

    When did Mehul Choksi leave India?

    Mehul Choksi left India on 7 January, 2018 and few days later, the PNB scam was disclosed.

    Where is Mehul Choksi right now?

    Mehul Choksi had been staying in Antigua and Barbuda since January 2018.

  • How did Upstox suffer a data breach and What does it mean for the users

    Upstox is the leading discount broker in the country. Upstox was formerly known as RKSV technologies. Upstox is backed by some of the top investors in the country which include Tiger Global and Ratan Tata. The company has nearly 30 Lakh users making it the second-largest stockbroker in the country.

    Over the last few years, Upstox has increased its client base and ramped up its operations because of the easy availability of Smart Phones and cheap data prices. Recently Upstox had signed up with the Board of Cricket in India to be one of the sponsors of the Indian Premier League (IPL)

    The company has announced and passed on an alert to their customer of the data breach. Let’s look at the further details of the data breach.

    How Upstox suffered a Data breach
    Measures taken by Upstox
    Measures taken by Upstox for the customers
    Funds and Securities of the customers
    FAQ

    How Upstox suffered a Data breach

    Retail broking firm and one of the leading discount brokers of the country Upstox had alerted its customers that there has been a data breach in the company. They have told that details such as contact data and KYC details of the customers have been breached.

    A spokesman of the company through an email statement had said that the hackers’ group has put the sample of the data on the Dark Web. The spokesman of the company added on saying that for now, the company is not exactly sure about the certainty of the number of customers whose data has been exposed.

    It is estimated that around 25 lakhs of its customers KYC data and contact numbers have been gained access by the hackers. This incident has happened in the midst of data breaches in some of the leading domestic companies and global giants such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Mobikwik.

    Upstox Data breach
    Upstox Data breach

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    Measures taken by Upstox

    The company has said that they had received receipts of emails that claimed unauthorized access to their databases. In response to it, the company has appointed a leading international cyber-security firm that will investigate the possibilities of the data breach of KYC details of customers. They would investigate on the KYC data stored in third-party data warehouse systems.

    The spokesman of the company has added that as a proactive measure the company has taken steps to initiate multiple security enhancements which will particularly concentrate on the third-party warehouses.

    The company has also taken steps to increase real-time monitoring to 24/7 and adding an additional ring-fencing to its network said the spokesman of the company.

    He added that the company has ensured to restrict the access to the databases which has impacted in the breach. The company has also added multiple security enhancements at all third-party warehouses.

    Upstox has taken measures to speed up its bug bounty programme to encourage the ethical hackers to stress-test its systems and protocols. This is a step taken by the company where it makes ethical hackers to hack into their systems to understand the vulnerabilities and identify the problems in the safety of the company’s data. This activity will be undertaken from time to time in regular intervals.

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    Measures taken by Upstox for the customers

    The company has taken an abundant caution towards the security of the customers. The company has taken the initiative to provide a secured password reset through OTPs for all its customers. The company has said that they take the safety of customers very seriously.

    The CEO of the company Ravi Kumar has said that this time the company has strongly fortified its systems to the most highest standards to ensure higher safety.

    The company has always made the customers to use unique passwords that are strong. They have ensured that the customers would change their passwords in regular intervals and stressed on not to share their OTPs with anyone.

    The company has said that it has also taken steps to warn the customers about the online frauds and to double-check the legitimacy of the links and senders. They have asked the customers to keep a check on the OTPs they receive and the ones they have requested.

    Upstox has always asked its customers to report and alert the service providers if they notice such activities.

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    Funds and Securities of the customers

    The spokesperson of Upstox has said that, the funds and securities of all Upstox customers are safe and have been protected by the company.

    Ravi Kumar who is the CEO and Co-founder of the company has also tweeted about it saying that funds and securities of the customers are protected and kept safe by the company.

    FAQ

    Is Upstox funded by Ratan Tata?

    Yes. Upstox is an online discount stock broker backed by funding from Mr. Ratan Tata. He held 1.33% stake in the company As of Jan 2020.

    Who is owner of Upstox?

    Founders of RKSV Securities (Changed to Upstox Later) are Ravi Kumar, Raghu Kumar and Shrinivas Viswanath are the owner of Upstox.

    Is Upstox SEBI registered?

    Yes, It is registered with the Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) as a stock broker.

    Conclusion

    These are the steps taken by Upstox regarding their data breach.