Leading influencers promoted company in Valley
Irfan Tramboo
SRINAGAR, Dec 19: A Chennai-based company, with offices in various locations, including J&K, is alleged to have duped scores of people of their hard-earned money, amounting to crores of rupees.
With its promotion done by a number of leading social media influencers in Kashmir, the company ‘Curative Survey’ is accused of gaining trust, leading to more investments and siphoning off an estimated Rs 59 crores.
Click here to watch video
With all contact numbers of the company defunct, several people who invested their money in the company for assured daily earnings assembled today outside the company’s zonal office in Srinagar; however, they did not get to meet any company representative.
Excelsior also attempted to contact the company on the provided contact numbers on the website (www.curativesurvey.com); however, all the numbers were unreachable, including several franchises and branch offices across Kashmir.
One of the persons designated as a franchise on the company website told Excelsior that he was also scammed and duped of Rs 5 lakh which he had deposited as a franchise fee.
While detailing the operations of the company, aggrieved people said that the company had a proper business plan that worked for quite some time until they suddenly disappeared.
“People used to deposit Rs 5000 as a security deposit valid for 15 months; during that period, individuals used to review various products, earning them money,” said one of the victims.
On the deposited sum, people used to receive Rs 3000 in return per month, and for the period of 15 months, they used to get Rs 45000 as a return. As a result, some made huge earnings, while others faced losses.
“Those who joined this month have faced losses; there are a number of people who have joined and used several accounts, amounting to huge sums.”
Another victim, who identified himself as Aijaz from Budgam, informed that he has nearly Rs 1.5 lakh at stake, which he has invested in the earning platform along with some other people.
An affected franchisee of the company named the people who used to handle the business as Roy and Lakshman, who, he said, are untraceable since Monday.
The allegedly scammed people said that the company gained trust over time and ultimately robbed them of their hard-earned money, noting that even some employees of the company have also been duped along with a number of people in Jammu.
“They were operating smoothly; posting 15 new questions daily, which were to be reviewed and answered by the subscribers, and people were earning well. Suddenly, they stopped responding to calls,” said another franchise owner, Suhaib from South Kashmir’s Pulwama.
It is to be noted that, according to the victims, the company is registered with the Government and has been filing GST returns consistently.
As per the company bio, the company is a “research and development unit for an upcoming body care and cosmetic organization.” However, it does not present any names or faces of people handling the matters.
“Those who operated the business in J&K, their last location has been traced to Patiala, and from there, they seem to have disappeared. Now, we are being threatened by the people, but who will tell them that we have also been scammed,” the victim franchises said.
While the affected people lodged a complaint in this regard-an action that followed around evening-the Cyber Police, Kashmir, along with the concerned Tehsildar, sealed the office premises of the company situated at Karan Nagar.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
