Social media has been having a field day today with claims and counterclaims flying thick and fast over a series of scams -- all perpetrated by one person -- that allegedly start from Mehsana in Gujarat and goes up till Louiseville, Kentucky in the United States.
Social media has been having a field day today with claims and counterclaims flying thick and fast over a series of scams -- all perpetrated by one person -- that allegedly start from Mehsana in Gujarat and goes up till Louiseville, Kentucky in the United States.
Every 5 minutes or so, Nishant Kumar Singh has been checking his phone for updates on his Twitter account. His DM (direct message) hasn't stopped buzzing ever since he made startling claims on YouTube about someone who he claims duped thousands of people of crores of rupees.
The accused is Neel aka Hitesh Patel who, according to Nishant, has made a career out of defrauding people. Neel, though, has flatly denied all charges and claims business rivalry as the reason behind the mud-slinging.
In a Youtube video posted on February 15, Nishant and his accomplice Abhimanyu Singh Rana claimed that Neel started conning people in his native village Akhaj in Mehsana, Gujarat where he allegedly charged exhorbitant amount to arrange Swedish visas and passports. Some were believed to have received fake passports and visas, for others the money simply vanished.
In fact, Nishant who runs a digital marketing firm, claims that the scale of the fraud was so much that the Swedish embassy had to put a newspaper clipping warning people against fake job offers.
Asianet Newsable tracked down Neel, who claimed that the fake Swedish embassy statement (which doesn't name him) was being circulated to defame him and that if the scam was such a big magnitude, there would have been at least one case registered against him.
The alleged whistleblower though claims that victims did not come forward fearing prosecution for allegedly trying to procure fake documentation and that the heat on him allegedly forced Neel to flee Indian shores and reach American shores.
Speaking to Asianet Newsable, Nishant listed instances of Neel's alleged fraud. He claimed, "Once he offered Diwali gift scam to his subscribers. He promised expensive Tablet PCs for his scheme subscribers at Rs 1. He charged Rs 3999 as shipment costs. Only 5% of the people received the device, but those were found to be cheap Chinese knockoffs that would cost slightly more than the shipment cost."
Neel though assured that all the Tablet PCs were delivered and the Indian vendor from whom the products were procured had promised to replace the defunct ones that were not functioning properly.
Another allegation levelled by the whistleblower was that Neel claimed that his father was a three-time BJP MLA and that his father was Prime Minister Narendra Modi's school batchmate.
"He used to threaten people stating this. When I visited the Akhaj village, I came to know that his claims were all bluster," Nishant claimed.
On the hand, Neel clarified that it was not his father, but his father's late elder brother VS Patel who was a three-time MLA. "I come from a well-to-do family. I don't need to stay in rented homes or take a property on lease in a VIP zone to operate my business. I didn't flee India. I have a valid business passport which has been stamped in many countries. I have not claimed US citizenship at any given point of time. I haven't duped anyone. Vested interests are trying to defame me for some reason. I am not sure why," Neel said.
The Cryptocurrency Argument
Whistleblower Nishant claims that the scale of Neel's alleged con jobs grew bigger over the years which he claims ranged from credit card fraud to cryptocurrency trading.
Asked why there had been no complaints against Neel in India, Nishant said, "See, he (Neel) took Rs 45,000 from people and students wanting to work abroad. He took Rs 45,000 from 970 people, which roughly comes to over Rs 4 crore. For Rs 45,000 normal people don't want to run around courts and police stations. But there are cases that have been filed against him in the US (Louisville, Kentucky)."
Neel admits he had a legal case in Louisville, Kentucky for tax fraud, he says that he had settled the matter and paid his dues and that it had nothing to do with cheating any individual.
"All my subscribers are happy. Nobody has filed any complaint. If what is alleged against me had any iota of truth, I would have been behind the bars already," Neel said.
Nishant claimed that Neel has now been conning people in the United States using cryptocurrency.
"He (Neel) claims that his Squeaks coin is worth Rs 1,32,000. All its worth is a jpeg image file. He designed a coin image. he offered one coin free with another, and referral bonus in coins. People started investing. This cryptocurrency has no value, there is no encryption behind it. I raised a red flag om Twitter," Nishant alleged.
"He would show the investor that they had invested a certain amount in the crypto-currency. But when people wanted to cash out the bitcoin, he would not pay them back. When some people used to exert pressure, he used to divert money from other sources to silence them."
Further explaining the scale of alleged fraud, Nishant claimed that Neel had installed an app called Squeaks Media on the users' phone. Using the APK of the app, he got access to photos on the users' android phone. "Whenever anyone would seek their money back, he would threaten them using their private photos," he claimed.
Neel, meanwhile, has rubbished the allegations and stated that his crypto-currency, which has not yet been officially launched, had been verified and approved. He even claims that the Squeak Media app is also available on the Apple PlayStore, which has tight privacy controls.
Neel said he will post his side of the story on social media tonight. Clearly, the last word in this saga is yet to be said.
