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We have integrity that meets the standards of the Better Business Bureau. Some others do not, and will take advantage of a small and honest business like ours.
Note: There are multiple people with the name Gautam Anand in India. This article is about one of them in Noida, India.
2009 Update: We pursued Gautam Kumar Anand by every legal channel possible. It turned out that he was a bank employee of SBI (State Bank of India) and had some connection with CitiBank. I have confirmed that he was responsible for issuing or dealing with various credit and debit cards at SBI. Thus, he had the passwords and all account information. The corruption went high up into the management of the bank - which is why calling to confirm that Gautam Kumar Anand was the account holder in good standing resulted in a positive response from the bank.
The police in Noida, India were of little help. They arrested Mr. Anand, and held him for a week. Apparently Mr. Anand has connections high up in the government and he was mysteriously released. More info about the case here
Some have asked how this could have affected me. Well, when a fraudulent card transaction occurs, it is not the responsibility of the cardholder. You might think the bank would take responsibility, but they don't. The bank takes the money away from the merchant who sold the items (this is called a "Charge Back"). Plus, the bank then charges a "Charge Bank Fee" of an additional $40 or so for each transaction to punish the merchant.
Banker cheats credit card holders
Our Correspondent
Noida, October 29
An employee of State Bank of India is learnt to have cheated half a dozen credit card holders. Through the Internet, the bank employee had reportedly done shopping worth Rs 3.50 lakh, using the credit cards of a number of people.
An assistant manager of the SBI has lodged a complaint against the bank employee for cyber crime in Sector-39 police station, though the Noida police have registered this cyber crime under the sections of ordinary crime.
V.K. Gulati, a credit card holder had lodged a complaint in the fraud cell of SBI Credit Card and Payments Services Ltd, during August 2007. In his complaint, Gulati said shopping worth Rs 73,785 had been done on his credit card by someone.
During inquiry, it came to light that a bank employee, Gautam Anand, a resident of Sector-37 Noida, had known the number and the password of the credit card before it was issued. After that he had done considerable Internet shopping with the help of his wife Sharda Anand and a friend Kiran. This way about half a dozen card holders, including P.N. Prakash and Pratosh Kohli had been cheated to the tune of Rs 3.50 lakh.
SBI assistant manager Ajay Kaushal has filed a fraud case against Gautam Anand and his wife. However, Noida police registered this case as an ordinary crime, not under the sections pertaining to cyber crimes.
We were tricked by a thief named Gautam Kumar Anand of India and defrauded out of $30,000 of artwork recently.
We are now trying to figure out how to stay in business, which is tough, when my family's total income was less than $30,000 for the 2006 tax year.
It is my responsibility, so my family and I will absorb the damage. We might be eating nothing but Ramen Noodles for a while, but we'll survive somehow.
My goal has always been to help independent Chinese artists climb their way to the middle class, while offering artwork that everyone can afford. My goal was never to get rich or make the artists rich, but rather to make sure everyone could maintain a comfortable standard of living. This includes my customers who, thanks to our low prices, can afford nice Asian artwork to decorate their homes.
At this point, it seems my way of doing business with rather thin profit margins and without love of money has backfired on me.
I will do everything in my power to ensure that my independent artist friends continue to receive more-than-fair prices for their artwork.
About our inventory: The hand-painted and handmade nature of our artwork means that we simply can't rush anything.
Many artists are busy painting, and we are busy building wall scrolls and mounting portraits. I hope to get caught up by the end of September. Though I expect it will be a year before we recover financially.
Easy come easy go. I thank God that I have a healthy and happy family - something for which money cannot buy.
-Gary.
If you are in business, and get an order from India to this address, or any address near Noida or New Delhi fill the order at your own peril:
GAUTAM KUMAR ANAND
HOUSE NUMBER 62, SECTOR 37
NOIDA, UTTAR PRADEESH 201301
INDIA
He also uses the names JYOTI BHUSAN and SUNIL KUMAR and may be the accountant of the cardholders of the credit cards used for this fraud.
I hope this helps at least one other merchant to stop a financial disaster from happening to them.
I further suggest that all merchants insist on wire transfers for orders going to India. The Indian banks (even Citibank) could care less about credit card fraud. The police and legal system in India are so corrupt that none of these criminals will never see justice.
With the other merchants involved, this one bastard has taken no less than $100,000 (probably a lot more, as that was only in a one month period and only transactions that I am aware of). When you call to confirm credit card information, the Indian banks may actually lie to you. I was first told that Gautam Anand was the account holder of the cards that I inquired about. This was later denied.