The government is now actually determined to crack down on fraudulent MLM companies that have ripped off hundreds of investors in India by blocking their internet sites and tracking their online bank transactions.
Corporate Affairs Ministry, the nodal division in this regard, has chosen its investigative arm – Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) – will certainly coordinate with Department of Information Technology and Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB) to recognize suspect web sites and transactions and take rigorous lawsuit.
Sources said such companies, functioning from numerous places within the country, have defrauded the public to the tune of hundreds of crores.
“There are various entities (MLM companies) doing business in India with internet sites and many such entities do not have a registered workplace within India. As a result, in order to avoid funds being transferred outside India, the website of major establishments doing multi-level advertising company need to be stopped through portals by Department of Information and Technology (DIT).
“This concern will certainly be taken up with DIT very soon and information of such business will certainly be offered to it for preventing the repayments,” an official privy to the development stated.
For MLM websites functioning clandestinely and carrying out concealed transactions, the Ministry will ask the Financial Intelligence Unit under Finance Ministry to track and supply snoop information on them so that SFIO can do something about it.
The FIU is mandated to create suspicious transaction reports based on inputs provided by banks and other financial and economic bodies.
The Ministry, throughout a current conference of the SFIO and its territorial directors, mooted a plan to trigger its marketing intelligence unit to keep a tab on deceitful ingenious systems established by such business to rip off the public and capitalists.