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.

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