Did you also pre-book for a smartphone in ₹ 251? Well, even if you haven’t, you must have heard of the Freedom 251 mobile scam. Striking a chord? Let’s hear it today.
What is the Freedom 251 Scam?
So the story begins in 2016, a year of revolution and change. Prominent projects like “Make in India” and *Digital India” were launched. In the year 2016, a company named “Ringing Bells Private Limited” made an announcement. In the announcement, they claimed that they would launch a smartphone for just Rs. 251. Unbelievable right? Similar things happened with the Indian audience, and many of them even did pre-booking.
Features of Freedom 251
The smartphone announcement also announced the following features,
- 1 GB Ram
- 8 GB internal memory (ROM) + 32 GB external memory
- 1.3 GHz Quadcore Processor
- 1450 mAh battery
- 3.2 MP Back camera & 0.3 MP front camera
- Dual sim
- 1-year warranty
- 3G GSM
They said that there will be more than 600+ service centers for their brand.
Response to the product launch
The company very smartly connected the launch of Freedom 251 with government campaigns. Even the CEO of the company said that Manohar Parrikar (defense minister during that time) would launch the smartphone. But to everyone’s surprise, there was no sign of Manohar Parrikar during the launch event. Not only this, even the anchor faked an excuse on why he couldn’t be a part of the event. And to cover it up they invited BJP politician Murli Manohar Joshi to the event. The device showcased during the event was a fraud, as it was some other Adcom model.
After this event and prototype understanding, many people backed out of the offer, understanding the scam. But there was a part of the audience that believed this campaign was a government-backed project and decided to give it a shot. And thus, many people pre-booked their pieces. But the cash on-delivery option was unavailable on this booking.
The company claimed to have set up two manufacturing units and assembly plants for the smartphone. One in Haridwar, and the other in Noida. They even claimed that the raw materials would be imported from China. As far as the capital is concerned, the company claims to have an investor who is willing to invest in their business, and for the remaining part, they will go for borrowings.
Promoters of the company were shown to be wealthy agro-commodity business owners. They will invest a primary amount in the business. But it was revealed that there’s no such business of the promoter family. They just own a small grocery shop in Shamli district, Uttar Pradesh.
What happened after the pre-booking of Freedom 251 Mobile?
The company received an overwhelming response from Indian consumers and heavy orders on pre-booking. The orders were oversubscribed, and they stopped taking any further pre-booking orders after a point.
The company was able to collect INR 145 crores in the first phase of pre-booking Freedom 251 mobile.
After the payment was received, the company promised to deliver the smartphone pretty soon. But as expected, they failed to deliver it within the stipulated time. The company promised to deliver the smartphone within 30th June 2016 to everyone. But again, nothing happened. Even the date was further extended to December 2016, it was of no use. This continued for months and months, but to date, there has been no delivery of the promised device.
Vigilance before the launch
Even when the first announcement of the launch of Freedom 251 was made, many associations and people declared it to be a fraud. As the telecom ministry suggests, the production cost of any such device will be a minimum of 2300 INR. And that’s a concern; it’s impossible to manufacture and sell at Rs. 251.
To this concern, the company responded that they are working on a huge level and are using negative marketing techniques to promote their product. They even asserted that they are using an in-built app for the device. This was again a suspicious claim, as many other mobile phone brands use in-built apps and still cannot reduce the cost.
Legal action on Freedom 251 scam
After many failed promises and responses, some people decided to make a complaint about not receiving the smartphone. While many of them decided to stay silent, as it was a matter of Rs 251.
After receiving huge backlash and pressure from consumers, the company said that they are not receiving funds from the government. They said they require fifty thousand crore from the government to execute the project, but the government is not funding them. But no such thing was mentioned in the prototype of the mobile during the launch.
The company Ringing Bells claimed that they have outsourced the job to “V Technology” and “Eminence Technology”. But both companies refused any such orders.
After numerous failed promises, the public demanded to return their money. And the company even assured us that they have instructed the payment gateways to refund the amount. But again, there was no sign of the same. Since the amount was minimal, people soon forgot about this. And the company was shut down.
In the year 2017, the CEO of Ringing Bells, Mohit Goyal, was arrested and imprisoned. He not only fooled the general public but also made fake promises to the distributors. It was revealed that the company chose certain distributors, who were required to deposit a specific amount for the deal and this amount was not as nominal as the public. It was mainly because of the distributor’s complaints that he was arrested.
Another victim was “Sai Future”, a call center that was in charge of taking any calls and queries on the model. The company made no payments to the call center as well.
Soon after Mohit Goyal got bail, but later got arrested because of corruption and blackmailing.
Conclusion
This is the story of the Freedom 251 mobile scam. It depicts how one person can execute a huge scam by taking small and penny amounts from a large audience. Stay aware of such scams and do not believe any offer or deal, offering infeasible deals.