Fraudsters cheat dealers in Aurangabad

Mumbai: Aurangabad dealers these days are on a high alert because some people
claiming to be officials from APS head office (a devanagiri script company)
visited them recently and have cheated them.

These officials along with the local police of Aurangabad visited Shreeji
Computers on the 1st of October and informed the owner Ashok Gurnali, of Shreeji
Computers that they wanted to search his premises and verify whether he was
using any pirated products. These officials along with local police asked the
staff to vacate the shop and are believed to have plugged pornographic material
on one of the computers with the help of a pen drive. After this they asked the
owner to pay Rs 5 00,000 as a fine or else face charges under the pornographic
act, which gets a punishment of five years in jail under a non-bail able,
warrant. However after a long discussion they settled the fine amount to Rs
20,000.

The fraudsters then tried to do repeat the act with other dealers and were
successful in duping two more and have got away with cash amounting to Rs
1,00,000 in one case and 20,000 in the other.

However when these fraudsters visited a dealer called Hi-Tech Computers on
3rd of October, he suspected foul play and they were apprehended. The Director
of Hi-Tech, Suhas Lanke asked them to show their ID-Cards and asked the police
to show the search warrant. Lanke then called up all the members of the
Association of Computer and Traders (ACT) in Aurangabad and also asked the fraud
officials to show their bags to him before they visited his shop. But when Lanke
asked these officials to show their bags the officials then rushed into their
car and began to break their CD's and pen drives they had.

By then all dealers of Aurangabad gathered at the venue and some of them
recognized the fraudsters. The dealers then marched to the Aurangabad Police
Commissioners office and requested the police to take strict actions against
such frauds. The police commissioner assured the dealers that such incidents
would not repeat.

Incidentally, stories of fraudsters have also been reported from Nashik where
two dealers in the city were cheated. Unfortunately due to negligence and lack
of awareness of the dealers the fraudsters managed to escape. Sharad Mishra,
President, Computer Association of Nashik (CAN) said, " We have now issued a
notice to all our dealers about such cases and asked them to get in touch with
the association if any officials come to them for any piracy related issues."