In what is being considered India's biggest wallet scam, Gurugram-based company TalkCharge has… Allegedly Individuals were defrauded to the tune of Rs 5,000 crore.
TalkCharge is cheating with extraordinary cashback schemes
According to the report, the company lured its users by promising huge cashback returns. After several fraudulent activities, the company founded by Ankush Katiyar shut down its operations in April 2024.
Victims like Ramavtar Sharma from Rajasthan, who invested heavily and took loans trusting the guaranteed returns, have suffered serious financial losses. The company committed fraud in which it offered extraordinarily high cashback rates such as Rs 7,50,000 on a deposit of Rs 59,999 and despite having nearly 2 million downloads, the app had worrying ratings which went unnoticed until it was too late.
Initially launched as a prepaid payment service, the company later shifted its focus to lucrative cashback deals, which caught the attention of many investors. In the month of July 2023 the company imposed a 20% convenience fee, an unusual move, which was soon followed by a misleading promotional offer to bypass these charges.
Fraudulent transactions began in January 2024, wherein customers started reporting that payments were made by them but not received by their sellers. In the month of March 2024, the services and withdrawal options of the app were completely suspended.
The victims are from all walks of life, from small business owners to high-ranking officials, and 800 such people are affected by this scam. The company's co-founder Shivani Maheshwari is also under the scanner. Interestingly, she has no prior corporate experience.
Katiyar arrested, FIR lodged against TalkCharge promoters
As part of the action, an FIR has been registered against the promoters of the company, including Katiyar and Maheshwari, and investigation is underway by the Economic Offences Wing of Gurugram Police.
Katiyar was arrested by the Delhi Police on September 4, 2024. Now that the authorities have taken over the case, we have to wait and see what form justice serves, but overall, the case highlights the effectiveness of the regulatory mechanism and enforcement agencies, as several complaints made to the RBI, SEBI, Income Tax and GST departments remain unresolved.
