‘It is dangerous and it is fishy’

The National

By Suryatapa Bhattacharya

April 30. 2008

K.V.Shamsudheen giving advices to individuals who are in financial distress, at a live radio program in Asianet-Dubai Media City. Jeffrey E. Biteng / The National
Every Monday night for more than a year, KV Shamsudheen, a radio presenter, has been taking calls from listeners eager to know whether they are victims of various financial hoaxes.

And this week, Mr Shamsudheen’s financial planning and investment radio show on Asianet, an Indian station based at Dubai’s Media City, has been inundated with calls and text messages from people concerned that they could be one of the 2,500 victims of the “case of the non-existent wallet”, the alleged Dh400 million (US$108.9m) fraud case police recently uncovered.

“I openly tell them to contact me and not [to] go for such [an] investment,” he said. “After seeing the news reports, I started telling people that such things are happening here in this country. It is dangerous and it is fishy.”

After one show in which he advised listeners to be wary of word of mouth advertising and individuals offering postdated cheques, Mr Shamsudheen immediately received calls and text messages from listeners who had invested money and had been promised good returns.

“I used to get calls saying that some representatives are offering an Dh8,000 monthly return for an investment of Dh100,000,” he said.

There are alleged cases of representatives who arrive in the country on visit visas and illegally sell various investment options.

“They always give false and rosy promises to investors,” said Mr Shamsudheen.

One of the callers, who wished to remain anonymous, said many of his friends had put their money in similar schemes and were still receiving sums of money.


They are unsure if any of these are tied to the Abu Dhabi-based scheme that has recently come to the police’s attention.

“None of them will speak against these people because they are getting good returns. In fact, some of my friends even got some money yesterday,” he said. One of his roommates took a credit card loan of Dh10,000 to put in a scheme.

“He gets Dh600 each month, which is a great return for the investment,” he said, adding that every investor is also given a guarantee cheque of the initial amount invested. Others he knew had taken bank loans of up to Dh30,000 and received a return of Dh3,000 each month.

Mr Shamsudheen, however, advises his listeners to only invest with licensed financial institutions.

“Collection of investment by individual or organisations without such a licence is illegal. And one must realise that to get a return of 96 per cent is impossible also.”