You have just registered a company or just applied for DIN and there comes a postman with VPP packet, that seems to be sent through Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), at your door steps and asks for Rs 1900 for delivering the packet as it is Value Payable Post. You in joy, that you have received the certificates from MCA after application of Company Registration in India, gives Rs 1900 to the post man and receives the packet. Now you are enthusiastically opening the packet. Bingo there is the Scam !! The VPP Scam !!
India is one country where scams are prevalent. Every now and then we witness something or the other which is not legal in nature. Adding to this is yet another fancy Scam it is called the 'VPP SCAM'. So the question is what this Scam all about is and who actually needs to worry about it? This time the fear of falling prey of such fraud is on the heads of upcoming Entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurs who want to get their private limited company registered provide all their information to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. Now, this information gets public and all details are available to the people about the new companies being registered.
Various fraud companies including certain publishing houses, extract this information of such newly registered company from MCA. They send various books, journals, copy of registration certificate or may be some useless papers etc. to the newly registered addresses of new companies through VPP i.e. they instruct the Posts to get the charge while delivering the item like COD (Cash on Delivery). The post is sent in such a manner that it looks like the parcel is coming from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs itself.
This scam can take place anytime after your information has been made public on the Ministry of Corporate Affairs website. It can be after you have applied for your DIN (Director Identification Number) or Certificate of Registration.
The people involved behind this, operate under fake publishing house name; most common one is Divya Book Co. The scammers play with the mindset of the entrepreneurs and exploit them at the time when they are most vulnerable. Any post which looks like it has come from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs will be received by them for any amount. Such cases have been increasing exponentially.
Just recently, one of our clients, after getting its company registered through Munin.in, a company registration marketplace, fell prey of the VPP Scam. After receiving his DIN he received a VPP parcel. He had been already informed to be cautious of such parcels but since he was not at home his family member collected the parcel thinking it has come from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and must be related to certain documents relating to the new venture. The parcel was received by him after paying Rs 1900. When the parcel was opened, useless papers were found inside it.
More than 2000 people apply for DIN/DPIN and over 100 companies are registered on a daily basis. The financial impact of this scam is massive. The people involved behind this scam are profiting at the cost of innocent people.
This article is being written only to spread awareness amongst the entrepreneurs, newly registered companies and various start-ups. This piece of information can prevent them from being exploited and from incurring any such loss. The advice to all the newly registered companies or the companies in the process of registration will be:
Firstly, if you have not ordered for any such kind of parcel or orders do not collect it. And if you have ordered before receiving the parcel call the publishing house and confirm the same.
Secondly, the MCA has very aptly said that all documents relating to the company registration in India can be downloaded from the MCA's website. To save yourself from such scams prefer that you are downloading all documents from the website on your own and not waiting for any kind of parcel to arrive from the ministry.
Thirdly, when you receive any post which is a VPP get cautious and inform all your family members about it and ask them to stay cautious as well.
Fourthly, if you are in such a situation please do not shy away from complaining about it. These instances needs to be reported and if they are not more and more people will get exploited.
Munim Team like to conclude this article by requesting the Ministry of Corporate Affairs to take some active measures for curbing this issue. All the newly registered companies do not fall prey of such a scam and complain about it as and when it happens and do not take this issue lightly. There are people who are enjoying at the cost of your hard earned money.
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