Chit fund scams on the rise in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: Investing in chit funds is not a new thing, and it is one of the best options available for any middle-class person to see his money grow. However, according to Central Crime Station police, the chit fund scams with the operators fleeing with customers' money have become rampant off late.

Praveen Kumar, a CCS official said, "The problem with the chit fund operators began since lockdown. We have registered many cases against chit fund operators who collected money from the customers and went absconding."

He added, "In a recent case, one accused, Madhusudhan, a chit fund operator, collected money from 20 customers and each customer was paying the chit amount for Rs 5 lakh.

For the initial 14 months, he ran the business without any obstacles. But all of a sudden, he vanished into thin air after accumulating Rs 2.5 crore from the business. All the customers, who were cheated by the accused, filed a police complaint and based on the complaint, we have formed special teams to nab him."

He said they have registered similar cases against many chit fund operators and efforts were on to trace the culprits and bring them to book.

"Moreover, it has also been observed that many such chit fund operators are unlicensed vendors who do not have a proper licence to conduct the business.

They just use their local contacts to do the business and their agents indulge in doing the mouth publicity for such fake operators," he said, urging the citizens to be cautious while investing their money in chit funds.