Kind Attention: Telecom Companies Of India: Airtel, Aircel, Idea, Tata, Vodafone, (Hutch), Reliance, Spice, MTNL, BSNL, Datacom, S.Tel, HFCL, BPL (Loop), Unitech Infrastructures, Swan, Shyam (Rainbow), Allianz, …
This is an appeal to all the cellular operators or telecom companies of India to ban the passage of calls from their numbers or customers using their numbers (services) to certain numbers which are operated by fraudulent companies indulging in fraud in a manner or method which will be apparent from the following episode.
On a channel called mytv in India on Friday, March 30, 2012 around 10:30 P.M., the announcer was exhorting viewers to identify the two Bollywood actors whose left and right faces had been joined to make one face. There was a prize money associated with correctly identifying the two faces. The viewers were supposed to call at the no. 5664474 which was only supposed to be called by mobile numbers from anywhere in India. I ignored it at first but soon (!) was tempted to dial the number. I was kept on hold for a long period (over 22 minutes) and all along I received the automatic response that the call is on hold etc. Now all that while most of the time there was no call being received by the channel (as will be apparent by the film of this episode which can be easily retrieved by the investigating agencies). Also, the calls which were being shown or which were being made public were in all probability of their own agents. All the voices seemed to be of the same bunch of people.
It dawned upon me later that my goodness, this is a fraud. My call is continuously on hold and still there is no call being received by the channel for great lengths of time(s) as was apparent by the jabber of the person hosting the show. I disconnected after over 22 (and under 23) minutes. In all probability (and I have no way to confirm this actually), the channel operators may be in cahouts (hand in glove) with the Telecom companies (this much ours, this much yours). The calls are charged at a premium rate. I did not know of the actual rate though it was aired about twice (or thrice?) that this is a premium call. But how much is charged for this premium call is not known to me yet. The fact is that so many gullible people must have contributed 50 rupees, 100 rupees, 200 rupees, 500 rupees, 1000 rupees (who knows how much) by simply calling and then being told that their calls are in waiting, or in the lobby or something) in a short span of time. By this gimmick, this dubious channel operating by dubious means must have earned … (who knows how much) in that short span. Are the telecom companies in cahouts with them? I don’t know.
In fact I spoke with the Customer Support of my cell number provider immediately after this and I was told that the number 5664474 is an ‘Application Number’ (whatever that means).
I request the citizens of India to forward this to any Inspector General or maybe Police Commissioner they know. Why Inspector General and even Police Commissioner straightaway? Because this is serious isn’t it?
Now I will probably lose under Rupees 500 in this (maybe less than Rs. 300) but the point is not about making an issue or fuss over such a small sum lost (why for some people every rupee earned is after toil, isn’t it). I am not making any case out of it since you and I have better things to do, but a little proaction from your side can help put the crooks out of business and government guests (sarkaaree mehmaan). I have done my bit of proaction. This is here on this blog and you have a reference and some food for thought, so go on do it. At the most, what's gonna happen, I’ll be taken out? It’s alright, I live on the edge as it is all the time.
This is an appeal to all the cellular operators or telecom companies of India to ban the passage of calls from their numbers or customers using their numbers (services) to certain numbers which are operated by fraudulent companies indulging in fraud in a manner or method which will be apparent from the following episode.
On a channel called mytv in India on Friday, March 30, 2012 around 10:30 P.M., the announcer was exhorting viewers to identify the two Bollywood actors whose left and right faces had been joined to make one face. There was a prize money associated with correctly identifying the two faces. The viewers were supposed to call at the no. 5664474 which was only supposed to be called by mobile numbers from anywhere in India. I ignored it at first but soon (!) was tempted to dial the number. I was kept on hold for a long period (over 22 minutes) and all along I received the automatic response that the call is on hold etc. Now all that while most of the time there was no call being received by the channel (as will be apparent by the film of this episode which can be easily retrieved by the investigating agencies). Also, the calls which were being shown or which were being made public were in all probability of their own agents. All the voices seemed to be of the same bunch of people.
It dawned upon me later that my goodness, this is a fraud. My call is continuously on hold and still there is no call being received by the channel for great lengths of time(s) as was apparent by the jabber of the person hosting the show. I disconnected after over 22 (and under 23) minutes. In all probability (and I have no way to confirm this actually), the channel operators may be in cahouts (hand in glove) with the Telecom companies (this much ours, this much yours). The calls are charged at a premium rate. I did not know of the actual rate though it was aired about twice (or thrice?) that this is a premium call. But how much is charged for this premium call is not known to me yet. The fact is that so many gullible people must have contributed 50 rupees, 100 rupees, 200 rupees, 500 rupees, 1000 rupees (who knows how much) by simply calling and then being told that their calls are in waiting, or in the lobby or something) in a short span of time. By this gimmick, this dubious channel operating by dubious means must have earned … (who knows how much) in that short span. Are the telecom companies in cahouts with them? I don’t know.
In fact I spoke with the Customer Support of my cell number provider immediately after this and I was told that the number 5664474 is an ‘Application Number’ (whatever that means).
I request the citizens of India to forward this to any Inspector General or maybe Police Commissioner they know. Why Inspector General and even Police Commissioner straightaway? Because this is serious isn’t it?
Now I will probably lose under Rupees 500 in this (maybe less than Rs. 300) but the point is not about making an issue or fuss over such a small sum lost (why for some people every rupee earned is after toil, isn’t it). I am not making any case out of it since you and I have better things to do, but a little proaction from your side can help put the crooks out of business and government guests (sarkaaree mehmaan). I have done my bit of proaction. This is here on this blog and you have a reference and some food for thought, so go on do it. At the most, what's gonna happen, I’ll be taken out? It’s alright, I live on the edge as it is all the time.
