Serial Cheating Involving Multiple Handphone Lines.
(Due to confidentiality reasons we respect our clients decisions to remain anonymous)
Scam Alert. We want to remind all to stay alert against scams. This is a year-long case of how Karthik S/O Vathana Kumar (V Karthik R Kapoor or Karthik Kapoor) scammed 8 people under the pretence of a media project in the form of a web series that he claimed would be promoted on online media platforms.
Over the span of 2019, Karthik met 8 different individuals (on 8 different occasions) with whom he developed a friendship. In May 2019, he pitched the media project idea to Person A and wanted to cast him. Person A agreed. Subsequently and in a similar fashion, Karthik approached 7 other individuals and expressed his interest to cast them in the same project, and they agreed as well.
In June 2019, Karthik called Person A and requested for a physical meeting to discuss contractual terms. After explaining about plot involvement, screen time and other commitments and portrayals, Karthik offered to pay Person A a total sum of $7,500 for the entire project, which was then negotiated to a final amount of $9,000. Karthik then followed up and said that they could not sign the agreement yet due to “last minute changes”. He told Person A that they would meet another day to sign the updated agreement.
Karthik proceeded to instruct Person A to take up a Singtel mobile plan under the pretext of “product placement” for the project. He said it was a requirement since Singtel would be the first of a few local telecommunications companies to come on board the project as a producer/sponsor, and that the companies had imposed this requirement on all cast/crew members. Karthik told Person A that he would only need to register and hold onto the plan for 3 months; and that Person A should collect every bill for representatives from Singtel to eventually make the payments. After discussing these terms and purchasing the line and phone, Karthik took the phone for safekeeping. In the next few days, stating similar reasons, Karthik made Person A sign up for another line, this time from M1.
He did this for 7 other individuals using the same scheme. In total, 8 individuals were made to take up multiple plans totalling up to 21 phone lines. Over time, the bills kept piling up and when concerns were raised to Karthik, he emotionally manipulated each individual by playing on their fears with their personal issues.
Karthik also took funds from Person B and Person C under the pretext of shooting short films. The final product never got released. Karthik also enlisted the services of Person B and Person C to assist with production/equipment purchases. They supplied him with $3,000, which Karthik embezzled; other additional monies were also unaccounted for.
In February 2020, the 8 individuals decided to consult one another, as the creditors employed by the various telecommunications companies were calling and harassing them for payments. After a confrontation with Karthik, it was evident that something malicious was going on. However, he denied any wrongdoing and said that all bills and monies would be settled by 30 April 2020.
In April 2020, Karthik appeared at the block of Person A without prior notice and came clean about orchestrating the entire scam: he had sold the phones to settle his personal debts with loan sharks, which he had incurred from extensive football betting. He then said that he was genuinely trying to solve the matter by going to his relatives for financial assistance, and he begged Person A to continue with the lies to keep the other victims convinced until the matter was solved.
30 April came and no solution was given. Karthik had been uncontactable since. For the 8 victims, bills continue to pile up and debt collectors are constantly calling. They have approached JMS Rogers for assistance in this case.
Upon receiving the case details, Mr Roger (HOD) reviewed the facts and made all the victims pen down a detailed statement of facts and assigned our legal representative (ex senior police officer) to assist in lodging of a detailed police report. Upon that, Mr Ruben (head of field enforcement) dispatched our field enforcement officers immediately to the debtors place of residence. Our field team managed to nab the debtor within 12 hours. The debtor came forward to sign a letter of admittance to the cheating. The debtor initially had made full restitution and had paid back monies of about $4000, however after few weeks the debtor highlighted that he has engaged his own lawyer and has seeked legal advice.


In the interest of our client, our team is still working endlessly on this case and will always fight for justice to ensure our clients are contented and can regain what is rightfully theirs.
We urge the public as follows, Seek the advice of a person who has experience in business or, in this case, a person who has experience in the media industry before proceeding with agreements involving money.
Google or research the terms presented first before agreeing. In this case, the scammer got the victims to buy lines from telecommunication companies that he said will be “sponsors”. In reality, no sponsor would make a production pay for featuring their products. In fact, they will provide their products for free to get air-time and would even pay for certain parts of the production, such as props or cast.
Check the background of the person presenting the idea to you. If he or she has no LinkedIn profile with substantial connections, website or any social media presence about his/her work, then you should be asking for more hard evidence of his or her background.
Refrain from betting or gambling as the scammer did, where he spiralled into addiction. It is just not worth it @jmsrogers. Stay safe.