In Mega Wallet Scam, Gurugram Firm Duped Users Of Rs 5,000 Crore With Cashback Bait: News18 Investigation

In a huge wallet scam, a company, operating from Gurugram, has duped people to the tune of Rs 5,000 crore. In an investigation conducted by CNN-News18 against the company called TalkCharge, it was found that staggering returns were being offered to users in just a few months in the name of cashback.

The victims have alleged that it’s a scam worth Rs 5,000 crore. Operations of the said company were stopped in April 2024. CNN-News18 spoke to the victims of the ponzi scheme run by TalkCharge, founded by Ankush Katiyar in Gurugram.

One of the victims, Ramavtar Sharma from Rajasthan’s Dausa, said he could have never imagined that his hard earned money and all his savings would be looted. His faith in the app was such that he expected only dividends and no losses. He said he even took loan from banks to invest money into the app, adding that he feels like “dying” now.

The app that promised to increase investment multi-fold is believed to have duped hundreds across the country. It boasts of almost 2 million downloads despite its abysmal ratings, which was the number one red-flag.

How TalkCharge Lured Users And Then Trapped Them

Initially launched as a prepaid payment service provider, TalkCharge promised users lucrative cashback offers, attracting many to invest significant amounts – from earning a cashback of Rs 1,666 on a deposit of Rs 4,999 to earning a whopping Rs 7,50,000 cashback in the bank account by depositing just Rs 59,999 in the TalkCharge wallet. The victims now say that trusting TalkCharge was their life’s biggest mistake.

There were multiple e-wallet options available to customers back in 2017 and TalkCharge decluttered their choices with cashbacks more than the market standards. The company also survived the turbulent Covid times. Everything went well till 2023, when the company launched some big money offers. Once a user’s trust was gained, it was easy to lure them to invest more.

In July 2023, the company started charging 20 per cent convenience fees, which was unusual in many ways. In August 2023, the company launched a promo code ‘no fees’ with a tag of Rs 1,49,999 to get away with the 20 per cent convenience fees and make withdrawals smoother. And then, in January 2024, the fraudulent transactions began.

Customers said that a payment made to the vendor was successful but the biller didn’t receive the money. In March 2024, withdrawals and services on the application stopped completely.

“The total wallet balance including my and my family members’ money was Rs 1.19 crore. If I don’t get this money back, I’ll have to face a lot of challenges. I have four kids, old-aged parents, a younger brother. I am the sole earning member of the family. Banks have also started calling me since I am not being able to pay my EMIs,” Sharma said.

The app has managed to dupe people from all walks of life. From a small shop owner in Rajasthan to the CFO of a multinational conglomerate, all fell prey to the lure of quick money. During the course of investigation, CNN-News18 managed to get it touch with over 800 victims from all across the county.

“The masterminds of this scam were using several ways to dupe users. Shivani Maheshwari, the co-founder of this app, is the venture capitalist of many new startups. If you read about her background, she has never worked in any company before TalkCharge. On what basis did she manage to invest crores in startups,” another victim Abhishek Mani questioned.

There are multiple complaints and FIRs against the promoters of TalkCharge across India. CNN-News18 managed to access an FIR lodged with the Economic Offences Wing of Gurugram Police. As per the FIR, it’s not just Ankush Katiyar, but co-founder Shivani Maheshwari is also being probed, and so are some employees of TalkCharge.

“Initially, they were offering a business model like any other wallet app. But later when they started giving offers against deposits, that’s where things started going wrong. That scheme itself was faulty because on a deposit of Rs 5,000, they were offering a 50 per cent cashback, which was not practical,” said Anil Rawal, IRS(Retd).

When CNN-News18 began its investigation, Ankush Katiyar was at large. After pressure from the victims and in between the investigation by Gurugram Police, on September 4, Katiyar was arrested by the Delhi Police in the national capital. Katiyar and others have been booked under Sections 120-b, 420 of the IPC and The Haryana Protection of Interest of Depositors in Financial Establishment Act, 2013.

Multiple complaints have been filed with RBI, SEBI, Income Tax and the GST department, but no response has been received so far from any of these authorities.

But the scam has raised pertinent questions – Do we have enough regulatory mechanisms? Are agencies able to effectively enforce the law?