startup

Eureka moment

Cashify app

Bengaluru

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Employees who spoke to the police, have refused to work under the company until they remove the option of accepting the mobiles without bills of purchase and documents – Prashanth M , Mahalakshmipuram police inspector

By Pragna L KrupaAt face value, it’s a great concept — cash in exchange for your phone. Until the thieves came alongidea may be afor the founders, appeal to investors, notch up customers and sales but also be misused by thieves who see it as an opportunity to sell their stolen wares, when the app’s founders never intended it to be so.That’s the story of how Venu, the accused who stole a mobile from a 70-year-old man, sold it through the, made his money. The app’s founders intended for the app to provide convenience for their customers to sell their old and used gadgets – upload information on the product, declare its condition and sell it, with/without original bills to Cashify. The customers would then get instant cash and a home pick up. But tech savvy thieves used the loophole of ‘no original bills’ to sell the stolen phones and make their money. According to the Mahalakshmipuram police, the Delhi-based company is now in the dock for giving its customers an option for selling such phones without bills or documents and then reselling these phones in the grey market.This modus-operandi came to light while the Mahalakshmipuram police were investigating a simple mobile theft case.S Shankara Subramanyam, a 70-year-old man had filed a complaint with the police in April stating that in February, his mobile phone was stolen by two bike-borne men in Bovipalya in Mahalakshmi Layout.The Mahalakshmipuram police traced the accused who was arrested in another mobile theft case and sent him to jail. After receiving a body warrant, the police took him into their custody. A thorough interrogation revealed that he had used Cashify to sell the stolen mobile phones.Upon further investigation, the police found out that the application allows its users to sell phones with only ID proofs, without cross checking the address or the product’s genuineness. On questioning the employees of Cashify, the police said that they would fix a spot from where they would collect the smart phones and gadgets and give the customers instant cash. The phones were later sold to local shops who allegedly created fake bills and sold the stolen mobile phones.Mahalakshmipuram police said the application was used by most of the criminals to dispose stolen mobile phones in the city. Over 1,000 phones with no bills and documents have been sold through this application, said Mahalakshmipuram police inspector, Prashanth M. The company, Manak Waste Management Private Limited runs the application in the name of Cashify and the application acts as a middleman, to collect mobile phones from sellers at a fixed value and gives sellers options to sell these gadgets with or without the bill of purchase and other documents. The Delhi-based company has several branches in the country. The company allegedly sells these items to small outlets in the city who are being accused of creating new bills for such phones to sell them in the market.Inspector Prashanth said that the company’s head office is located in Frazer Town and has about 80 employees working here. He said, “The Bengaluru head office manager, Prathap Reddy is currently absconding and as per the employees who spoke to the police, they have refused to work under the company until they remove the option of accepting the mobiles without bills of purchase and documents. We are sending out notices to the company’s head office in Delhi for violating norms and accepting devices without bills of purchase and documents. We are investigating further to get information about these phones.”The arrested have been identified as Venu, 24, a resident of KP Agrahara, Waseem Rehman, 26, of Hegde Nagar and Tabrez Sharif, 25. Police said that Venu stole the mobile and uploaded its information on the app. Waseem, an employee of Cashify Bengaluru met him, gave him cash and bought the stolen phone. He then sold it to Tabrez who runs a shop in National Market. Tabrez too accepted the mobile without any documentation, created fake bills and tried to sell it to his customers, police said.This reporter tried contacting the founders of Cashify for a comment but till going to press there was no response.