problem with sharekhan - a fraud case ?

Dear friends

i recieved a email from one of my friend. here is the message - please help him if you can ..........


message from the sufferor /complaintant

Dear friends,

I would like to share my pathetic experience with the renouned brokerage
firm Sharekhan.

Around one and half months ago I opened an online share trading account with
Sharekhan in the name of my mother. She doesn't have much money to invest,
so whatever she has we planned to put it in the stock markets for
better-than- usual returns.

While opening the account, I was suggested by their representatives Mr.
Niladri and Mr. Sudipta to go for a prepaid account. In that way we'd have
to pay lesser money to open the account.

They told me to give two cheques (Rs 20000 and Rs 6000) separately. I asked
*Mr. Sudipta* about what would happen to the Rs 20000 and Rs 6000 that I pay
upfront? * He categorically replied that once the account is opened, we can
get it back anytime we wish *, and that I can even use the *TOTAL* (Rs
26000) money to buy shares in delivery. Sounded nice.

*But, after the account was opened, it was a different story.*

The 20000 was there in the margin account, but *there was no trace of the
remaining 6000*. Now, when I asked Mr. Niladri, he told me that the Rs 6000
has been kept by sharekhan as advance brokerage and that I will not get it
back again !!!

After writing to the sharekhan helpdesk for a number of times for the last
one month, I got a reply today. It read:

"Dear Sir/ Madam,

Greeting of the day to you,

At the outset we deeply regret the inconvenience caused to you

We would like to inform you that,we have converted your account from the
prepaid brokerage scheme and as confirmed on the AMC scheme document we
shall not refund the remaining amount in your account."


My mother is a small investor having very limited money to invest. Rs 6000
to her is a lot of money. This scheme is simply not for her. *She would have
gone for a normal postpaid account had we been told the truth* *while
opening the account*.
**
Friends, please suggest what should I do !

Is there any legal procedure in which I can take action against such menace
of Sharekhan? (I have one more account opening form of sharekhan with one
of my colleagues. I am planning to get it from him and study it in details
so that I can do something.)

*And friends, beware, think twice ... sorry ... think 200 times ... before
opening trading account with Sharekhan.*


Regards,

Debayan.

please reply him -uttam1975@**********


Cheers ,
srinivasan

Thanks in advance for helping him .i hope its a genuine case /not sure abt it . i have not much info on this case .

hi srini, this is a shocking incedent and enough to stay away frm sharekhan here onwards. but then this is a same old story with other so called "RENOWNED BROKERAGE HOUSES".

frm my own experience I say tht just follow this steps..--

-- never open account with pure brokerage house like sharekhan, indiainfoline , Geojit, etc.

open ur demat cum trading account with bank which offering this facility.
like IDBI(IDBI PaisaBUILDER), UTI(UTISEC), HDFCSEC.

stay away frm Kotak.

the bank charges a bit high compare to punters but then u have sound sleep.

never trade with help of sub-brokers. have ur internet connection at home and do on ur own.

get contract notes daily and match them with ur saving account transctions.

Having demat cum trading with bank have one more plus point ,online transfer of money is safe and anytime. some banks give interest also on ur buying power.

-- never pledge ur delivery positions specially if u are newbie.

-- avoid doing intraday and naked futures.

-- recently one more member on this Forum , AMOGHG get cheated.
the broker sold of there shares worth Rs.25000 and when they write to SEBI and other authorities nothing had happened.


May be some of members not like this but it is also depends on ur own personal experience also.. there are ppl having account in 5paisa frm many years and have no problems.
but then they are mostly traders not investors.

chintan

FYI: Non-bailable warrants against Sharekhan

It is not surprising that The Gurgaon judicial magistrate First Class court on Monday issued non-bailable warrants against Sharekhan CEO Tarun Shah, director Shankar Vilaya, vice-president Hemedra Aggarwal, senior executive Harendra Doshi and branch head Manoj Sharma in a case of alleged defrauding and cheating of an investor.

You can read more at: http://economictimes.***************/...ow/2279370.cms

The officials have been booked under Sections 467, 468, 471(forgery) and 477 A (falsification of account). The action has been taken on the basis of a first information report filed with the police on May 7, 2007.Sharekhan has denied the cheating charges. When contacted by ET, the official spokesman for Sharekhan said the firm was “surprised by the decision of the Gurgaon court and would be taking appropriate legal steps.”

“The case is currently under the consideration of the Chandigarh High Court, the next hearing is slated for September 7,” the spokesman added.The complainant has alleged that a large number of transactions, which were carried out in his account on March 30, were unauthorised.

The complainant further alleges that a letter had been sent to the company (Sharekhan) relating to the issue. However, there was no reply from the broking house. The complainant has alleged that he had to suffer a loss of Rs 2 crore as a result of the unauthorised transactions in his account.

The Sharekhan spokesman said the firm had squared off the market positions of the complainant as he had not paid up the additional margin money. “We have signed a contract with the said investor, and like all contracts that we sign with our investors, the wordings of the contract are in accordance with Sebi guidelines,” the spokesman said.

“The market was very volatile on that day and since the investor could not provide the additional margin amount, we had to liquidate his positions. In fact we had called him to our office and explained to him the situation under which the positions were squared off,” he added.

^ From what is written here - what wrong Sharekhan did in squaring off?



As regarding the original poster - it is wierd, since all Sharekhan asks for initialy is payemnet for opening demat account and payement for opening trading account.

And that too is combined less than 1000 Rs.


So this 20000 + 6000 funda seems like bullcrap.

Ignorance is BLISS

But a Bliss no greater than a curse when opening a trading account!!!

The ignorant man is looted always...

Be it government, law or corporates, the excercise of looting the ignorant continues!!!

Small investors are always treated as "Trailer Trash" by brokers. So better get educated than to jump into the VAST WORLD OF MONEY, KNOWLEDGE & POWER.

Only believe ur eyes...and if u r blind folded or blind, hear from multiple mouths...
It could save u!

Correct me if i am wrong.
Still to experience the markets...
Love
Kuriako

thanks to all for sharing their experience

in simple words - we as a small investor have to be careful in dealing with shre brokers , however famous they may be.

We should not blindly trust the brokers ,none are perfect

i have dealt with kotak ,Reliagre .

iam a loyal kotak client from early days on online trading , no major problem faced by me .but sometimes ,they make errors , i write to them , they do respond .

one thing positive abt Religare :

They gave me the copy of the Filled up application form , most of them was in right place , except 1 or two pages ,where they afficed my signature from another page and sent me copy ,i think its in tariff page .

but they did not send it easily , i fought with them to get that copy , it will be useful in cases of fault .

so ,its better ,one exercises little caution

some of my views :

its good to check the ledger /Dp account daily ,even if one does not trade . if any error is there ,he/she should immediately mail the brokers .

Its better to do trading only in house or in any safe network .

dont keep unwanted money in trading account

as one friend said , its better to go with broker who also has a bank , like Idbi paisabuilder/Hdfcsec /kotak securities /icici direct .

Kotak also advertised 0 balance account for trading investors .

More views shortly ......

i dont know , what happened to the guy who mailed me , i feel , one has to to be careful ourselves in dealing with brokers

we must create awareness in this board for small investors .

Cheers
srinivasan

Dear alpha1

its not my case ,somebody mailed me , i dont know ,if its real genuine case , i assumed it was real ,so only , posted it here for reviews by our friends here .

i do trading in kotak only ,,,,deal directly with them ,if i face problems .

if you are a sharekhan trader /client , please can you specify the charges levied . are you sure , this is not true case ,as said in above mail .
please be very sure about it . i belived what that guy wrote to me ,
if so , its bad , i will write to that guy who mailed me .

Thanks

cheers

srinivasan

Dear friend ,

thanks for posting this article here

we have to create awareness amongst ourselves ..
cheers
srinivasan

when i opened a/c wit sski, i paid 750. rest i did a online transfer. one thing is open a separate bank ac for money tfer to broker. some of the brokers take a signature where u aothorize them to withdraw money like reliance. so having a differenent a/c with minimum cash is he;pful

I have been dealing with Sharekhan for quite a few years now. I have also opted for this 6000 advance brokerage scheme as this reduces my effective brokerage by 50% and they keep refunding the difference every month.

One can not cry for every penny you loose here, share market is full of risks and one has to understand that before jumping in it.