Businessman loses Rs 33 lakh in lure of Domino’s franchise in Gujarat

RAJKOT: A two-wheeler showroom owner who was desperate to get a franchise of Domino's Pizza lost Rs 33.42 lakh to cyber crooks in Gondal.
The victim, Jayendra Jethwa, lodged a complaint with Gondal city police station against seven unknown account holders of various banks in which he deposited the money over the last month. Jethwa unsuccessfully applied for the franchise in 2020 and 2021.
On September 3 last year, Jethwa received a call from a person on the other side identifying himself as Rajesh Gupta, the public relations officer (PRO) of Domino's India with the head office at Gautam Buddha Nagar in Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
The caller told him that his application had been accepted and the company will conduct an area survey followed by his online interview before finalizing. The caller also sought his basic details like his education, fluency in English, his current business and annual turnover among many personal more details.
Jethwa checked the online address of Domino's India and it was the same as mentioned by the caller.
Thus, he trusted the caller and believed that the details sought were in response to his application.
The same day he received another call from the same person who asked him to deposit Rs 47,600 as a registration fee through google pay which was non-refundable.
Thereafter, he received a mail from the domain of 'dominosindiafranchise.in' asking him to deposit Rs 5 lakh for the franchise and he was given an account number of Bank of Maharashtra in which he transferred the money through RTGS. He also received the receipt of payment in the mail.
After a few days, Jethwa again received an email asking him to pay Rs 13.50 lakh for various charges to be deposited in the South Indian Bank. Jethwa again transferred the amount through RTGS.
On September 20, he got another mail stating that senior company officials would visit the site of the franchisee for which he was asked to pay Rs 4.62 lakh. He was also sent the ID cards of the two people. This time he was asked to deposit this amount in the account of Jubilant Foodworks Ltd in Canara Bank. He deposited that money but nobody visited the site.
In the same week, he received two emails in which he was asked to pay Rs 8.15 lakh for kitchen management and Rs 1.48 lakh for a no-objection certificate.
Thereafter, he got a call from a person named Dipesh Agarwal who asked him to deposit Rs 20,000 for insurance and gave him a toll-free number for further communication. However, when Jethwa called this number all were switched off and email to them also bounced.
Jethwa somehow managed to contact one of the officials of Domino's company who told him that he was cheated.