CBI has started an investigation into the Rs 500 crore scam, wherein thousands of people were duped in a ‘click-income’ business, via Ponzi scheme.
Actors Shah Rukh Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who was seen promoting this scam, have been named in the FIR, lodged against the company WebWork Trade Link. This means that CBI will now investigate both of these actors, and will try to dig out the truth behind their involvement.
Note here, that the complaint against this company, which is now part of FIR, doesn’t accuse these actors of fraud. Just that they were endorsing this company has been mentioned in the FIR, which would be now investigated by CBI.
The question now arises: Will CBI take any action against these actors, whose name was used to promote this scam?
CBI’s Investigation Is On Against Rs 500 Crore Scam
Earlier this year in the month of February, we had reported about this Ponzi scheme, wherein around 2 lakh people were duped to the tune of Rs 500 crore, in the name of click based income.
Rs 5000 to Rs 50,000 was charged per person, assuring them of guaranteed income of Rs 5-10 per click. They were promised that all they need to do is, click on online advertisements, and convince two more people to join under them: a typical Ponzi scheme.
The complaint has named both of these actors, as they were promoting this Ponzi scheme, and their endorsement convinced thousands of people to join this platform.
The complaint filed against WebWork stated, “People have invested heavily as they were influenced by both celebrities. Addsbook is a shadow company of Webwork Trade Links Pvt Ltd. It is an eyewash to lure more people to join the company. After the endorsement of Addsbook Marketing, innocent people invested their hard earned money in the company, hence both the celebrities are equally responsible for the wrongdoings of the company,”
On directives of Allahabad High Court, CBI took over the investigation from UP Police, and have filed FIR against the owners Anurag Garg and Sandesh Verma.
This case and modus operandi of scam is similar to SocialTrade scam, wherein more than 7 lakh people were duped of Rs 3700 crore. The investigation is still on.
Possible Action Against Shah Rukh Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui?
The chances are slim, because these actors were not involved in the scam per se, but were only endorsing their product.
But again, such endorsement of fake products by celebrities can land them in jail as well.
In October last year, a Parliamentary Standing Committee had suggested to Consumer Affairs Ministry that if a celebrity is found to be endorsing a product which is fake and harming the consumers, then a jail term of 5 years and a fine of Rs 50 lakh can be imposed.
Minister Paswan, at that time, had said, “We will take action against celebrities endorsing misleading advertisements. We have studied the laws prevailing in other countries on celebrities for misleading ads. There are penalties in some country. There is a provision for a ban of three years for celebrities in some country and lifetime ban in case of repeat offence..”
And this recent case of WebWork and the nefarious association of senior actors like Shah Rukh Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui can be a good case study.
Do you think that CBI should take action against Bollywood actors for endorsing and promoting such fake Ponzi schemes? Do let us know by commenting right here.