The issue of sham IT companies keeps resurfacing, but till now there is no way to ensure that such companies are nabbed before the frauds are committed.
There have been at least five to six such cases in the past year, like the latest ‘Prodigy Solutions,’ indicate officials.
The Madhapur police is searching for more records of the fake IT company called Prodigy Solutions, that shut shop on Saturday after duping around 30,000 employees of their deposit money, ranging between Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh.
The fraud was masterminded by the CEO, Murali Radhakrishna; Srikar Reddy, Head of the Visakhapatnam branch; and head of the company’s Warangal Branch, Srikanth Reddy. The trio went missing a week ago. “We are tracking the mobile records of these three officials who are absconding and are trying to trace them,” said the Madhapur Inspector, Mr Lakshmikanth Reddy.
While the IT minister has promised legal action against the proprietor, the industry remains at the mercy of such fraudsters as there is no background verification process in place for the proprietors of IT companies.
Moreover, with the state government’s thrust on the IT sector, a number of companies keep launching operations and it is difficult to keep track of them.
“It is up to the job seekers to verify the background of the companies. For instance in this case when the company had asked for deposit money, that was the time the investors should have understood that this is not the norm in the industry and should have done a background check,” said IT and ITES Association President, Mr L. Suresh.
Police suspects that Prodigy Solutions’ CEO Murali Radhakrishna, might have absconded with at least Rs 16 crore collected from 1,600 B.Tech students and security deposits of employees, ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh.
Source : DC