Victims of a large-scale fraud are petitioning the Indian Embassy as well as police officials in the South Indian state of Kerala to arrest a group of alleged grifters for scamming more than 50 businesses across the kingdom.
The GDN reported this week that a range of establishments across Bahrain, including hotels, food suppliers and travel agencies, have been allegedly defrauded of goods and services, with more than 15 police cases filed against the licensed trading and construction firm, with which the alleged fraudsters were connected.
Their modus operandi involved building trust with a company by making full payments on the first few purchases and then issuing post-dated cheques for larger orders and taking delivery of goods before the cheques bounced on the issue date.
According to the victims, the total amount in outstanding payments has now climbed to BD427,399.235 as post-dated cheques have continued to bounce and more victims have come forward.
Ashraf Kakkandi, from Riya Travel Agency, which was allegedly duped out of BD4,850 by the scamsters, told the GDN that the Indian Embassy in Bahrain had contacted him and informed that Indian nationals affected by the scam can reach out to the diplomatic office with case details.
Further steps were not announced and embassy officials have yet to respond to multiple requests for comment.
Meanwhile, an official from the office of the Director-General of Police (DGP) for the Trivandrum district in Kerala confirmed that the Petition Monitoring Cell at the police headquarters was looking into the financial scam.
Victims, represented by Blue Way Travel general manager Rajesh Nanoo, have sent the DGP a report with the details of affected businesses, calling for immediate action and investigation.
“This group has been accused of using deceptive practices,” Mr Nanoo wrote in the letter.
“They allegedly misled suppliers in Bahrain by placing orders using local purchase orders, giving false post-dated cheques, and then leaving the country unexpectedly.”
The victims also noted that one of them has filed a case with the Trivandrum Police.
According to Sijilat, the privately-held firm, based in the Seef area, with which the fraudsters were connected, was issued its Commercial Registration (CR) in October 2018.
However, all reports of dubious activities are from the past several months, after a new partner was added to the CR. The 36-year-old Indian national, who owns 49 per cent of the company, arrived in Bahrain earlier this year, and was added to the CR in February.
Victims allege that five other expatriates were involved in the scam – a 53-year-old Indian male, 36-year-old Pakistani male, 32-year-old Indian female, 46-year-old Indian male and a 25-year-old Indian female. The extent of their alleged involvement is not known.
According to several victims, the alleged criminals are believed to have fled back to their home countries of India and Pakistan.
The company’s website shows a ‘404 Not Found’ message, and its Seef office has been cleared out.
Amongst the items taken by the scamsters as part of the fraud are industrial safety products, building materials, frozen foods, stationery, disposable plastic items, meat products, laptops and groceries.
The impact on individual victims starts from BD363 on the low end, with the highest claims to the tune of BD75,000 for building supplies, as well as BD85,790 and BD76,236.145 for hotel rooms.
naman@gdnmedia.bh
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