This person named "Avnit" called me that you have inquired about a property on olx.in and told that I will send you pictures of flat you are looking for on your watsapp number and you can see and finalize by sending some amount as an advance for booking. After sending amount of 200 rupees, he never called me back deactivated his watsapp and disappeared by taking my money. He has done fraud to many people in my area. He sent me the phone number of Devinder singh to send booking amount phone number is : 7528050539 and this person Avnit phone no. is : 7087615413

I will deactivate the advertisement and finalize apartment for you and kindly send me a screenshot for payment.

Please don't trust and never pay advance for booking an apartment just by checking some pictures until you have not visited and met the person, otherwise you will lead to financial loses.

I am always getting such kind of emails which ask for bank details and other information However I don't know what the source is but it always comes,

The text in the email is :

"Dear Lucky Winner,
This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of £500,000.00(Five Hundred Thousand Pounds) for the Yearly Coca-Cola Lottery promotion United Kingdom which is organized by Coca-Cola in conjunction with Chevron Texaco Oil and Gas Company, “Your Email Address" were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from Nine hundred thousand email from Canada, Australia, United States, Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Oceanic as part of our international promotions program which is conducted annually, we have only selected 20 people as our winners, through electronic ballot System without the winner applying.

BELOW ARE THE REQUESTED INFORMATION'S:
1. Full Names:
2. Full Home Address
3. Gender
4. Nationality:
5. Age:
6. Current City:
7. Occupation:
8.Language:
9. Mobile Number:
10. E-mail Address:
11.Account name:
12.Account number :
13.Name of Bank:
14.Marital status:
15: Have you won Before, YES OR NO?

Please do not take this kind of emails seriously and do not share your confidential information with anyone

This Person is sending spam email sending me this content wants to send me funds that is totally fraud.

I am Mr.Ali Shareef Emadi, Minister Of Finance Qatar Petroleum.I have a financial Business transaction of $10.5 Million US Dollars that i would like to execute with you.

Please kindly get back to me if you are interested, I have all it will take to move the fund to any of your account designate as a Contract Fund to avoid every query by the authority in your Country.

I have a financial Business transaction of $10.5 Million US Dollars that i would like to execute with you.

Kindly do not reply to such kind of emails as providing your bank details or nationality details can cause you financial loses.

I got a call from New Delhi where a person told me he will give me free Iphone and I just had to pay delivery charges of Rs. 4000 for the phone. After having a lot of conversation over the phone and the messages, I deposited the money to the bank account of the company. Now they do not receive the phone or sms, I have lost my money.

Please do not give personal information and bank details to such people. They cheat you and take away your money. Also, please do not send the money to anyone until you see the product yourself. I lost a lot of money because of it.

I am permanent residence of Bangalore. I have ordered a combo package including cake and flowers from Fern and petals for my friend, an online florist and gift store that guarantees same day delivery and the “delivery of fresh products – always.” But they failed to deliver the product on the specified day, and when they finally did deliver it the next day, the cake was “smashed up, made of cheap wine” and of a quality that was entirely unacceptable to my friend.

When I attempted to complain about the non-delivery of the product on the scheduled day, then I found that the customer care numbers displayed on the website were not attended. I managed to find contact details from other location. One of their representatives picked up the call and they told me that they have received my order after that they disconnected the call.

Few days later, Charu My friend complained about the delayed delivery of a substandard product over a chat conversation with the company representative, Neha, who, according to her was rude and paid no heed to her complaints.

Charu then approached owner of the company, which runs a consumer helpline. She told them if we did not get the refund So, you need to pay Rs50,000 as compensation for our losses, harassment and inconvenience, Owner gave us satisfaction that severe action would be initiated against them.


When Mr Singla- Owner of the company finally said that the matter was headed to consumer court and they would have to appear in person to justify their position. With a sudden and radical change of tone, it sent a politely apologetic email to Charu, with the promise of a full refund on the same day.

When Mr Singla- Owner of the company finally said that the matter was headed to consumer court and they would have to appear in person to justify their position. With a sudden and radical change of tone, it sent a politely apologetic email to Charu, with the promise of a full refund on the same day.

I advice to people that never ever, buy anything online using your credit card from a site that doesn't have SSL (secure sockets layer) encryption installed—at the very least. If they provide cash on delivery option then always go for COD. Cash on Delivery is the sale of goods by mail order where payment is made on delivery rather than in advance. If you are not available or goods are not paid for, they are returned to the seller.

I was riding my Vespa (2 wheeler) and I noticed a flat rear tire. I pushed the bike for 500 meters to reach the nearest tire shop. In Pune, India, puncture removal is a pervasive con. I will generalize and say that over 90 percent of them cheat you in terms of either service costs or punctures. The repairman removed the tire and I was standing diligently making sure I see no fishy business. Firstly, he fills up my tire with air and claims that the valve is damaged. I ask for proof. He removes it and shows it to me. I ask him to replace it. He quotes a price of Rs. 650, which is ridiculous. It is ideally sold at Rs. 150. I get into an argument and demand a lowered cost. Of course, these local goons do not produce bill, so no warranty. Then, I follow up with them to check the puncture. There were 7 of them and in all honesty, I could verify them. However, I saw 8 different spots where there was a repair done. The last one was done when I looked away. I argued and ended up paying just about Rs. 200 extra. But I wasted 50 minutes on this.

They offered a 'verbal warranty' for an overpriced tire valve. The repairman and his associates gave different costs when asked individually.

When you go to a tire repair shop in India. NEVER EVER let the tire out of your sight. Ask them to keep every tool away and clearly instruct them that no one touches the tire with a tool unless you give them an 'OK Go'. They are crafty, very crafty. Sometimes, they will use a tiny blade to rupture the tube or the valve while talking with you. The rupture the tube when you make eye contact. Sometimes they will patch the wrong area and claim the original puncture to be a new one. From all the repairman cons in Pune, India, tire repair shops are the worst. Be careful.

Few Days ago, I added 5000 in my Paytm account to buy some electronic appliances at around 10:45 am in the morning. Then, I logged off. I logged back at around 5 pm again to my Paytm account and was not able to login. Tried to reset password and logged on to see that my order was cancelled. I realised my account was hacked by someone and from the refund received the hacker had made 5 transaction of total worth Rs 4616. The hacker had also written some bad words in my profile. When i checked my Paytm wallet summary, I could see 5 fraud transaction with complete details of order id and transaction. These transactions were made through my wallet. I immediately reported this to the customer care of Paytm within 5 hours of these transactions being made. They asked me to write to their cyber cell of Paytm. I wrote several emails and the basic request was to hold or block these fraud transactions since all were done with Paytm partners and were not realised. The idea was take the right action to save the MONEY from going away. While we wanted to give time to the cyber cell of Paytm to investigate we at least wanted them to at least get these transactions being blocked or kept on hold. This was not done and nobody tried to talk to us on phone or interact on emails. We did several emails and phones but the customer care said we do not have cyber cell contact and you can just mail them and we cannot help you. This all was done by Paytm and finally result in losing my money.

Based on the fraud transactions being made, I kept on calling Paytm customer care service but there was no response. Their customer care service is pathetic. They make fool of their customers.

No response from Paytm

I advice people not to add money in your Paytm wallet. As they are making fool of their customers and the sellers who are selling their product on Paytm are not registered User. So, please don’t be cheated by company like Paytm.

I don't thing this kind of business is real. They don't have a genuine reference of product. They are showcasing the the product without source also. Their location, identity is not trustworthy at all. And the business deal is just insane . They are just trying to trap people through their easy earning advertise .

Ignorance is a good cure of this kind of problem. But conscious observe and careful step is more preferable.

I have a complaint with Ola Cabs. I had booked a ride with Ola on 6th May at 6:45 am in Bangalore which was confirmed and the CRN was 113789550. However, in the morning on calling the driver Mr. Shri Gopal at 6:45 am, he refused to come without informing in advance and I already added money in my wallet. So, I called another driver Mr. Ravi was scheduled to pick me up at 7:15, after a delay of 30 mins from the scheduled time but he too refused to come and said he was far off. The customer care could not be contacted despite trying repeatedly for 30 mins. I was scheduled to give a national level fellowship exam in Bangalore in Electronic city scheduled at 8 am, but this was the biggest trial rather than the exam. After confirming a ride in advance, I was left stranded! The services of Ola have been pathetic. Without informing in advance the driver refused to come, Ola made no suitable alternative available. This is definitely not acceptable. Had I not been able to book an Uber ride immediately I would have failed to reach my examination venue in time. I travelled all the way from Kolkata to Bangalore for this exam and specifically recharged Ola money just to ensure pre booked rides but if this sorry state of affairs at Ola I would definitely warn people before they book Ola rides for any important affair. I was forced to avail of Ola services later also as I had recharged previously with Rs1000 without knowing the poor quality of services. I faced a great difficulty, but both ride now and ride later options could not be availed several times because of full slots. I am really disappointed with the service. I didn’t get my money that I have recharged with Ola.

No response from Ola Cabs

I advice people don't trust on Ola Cabs esecially in case of an emergency. Sometimes driver deny to pick you up from your place or sometimes driver cancels the ride on their own without informing the user.

Few Days Back, I got a call on my mobile no. at 08.25am from Airtel , One of the representative from Airtel advised me to update mobile services from 3G to 4G. He advised me to provide SIM No. detail and also answer via sms by pressing 1 to an Airtel message. I went ahead with his advice and subsequently my Airtel connection services stopped till filing of this report.

After few days he again called me in morning and enquired about Airtel connection services. I complained him that services are not started yet. He assured me that in another 3-4 hours your services will start functioning. When services not activated on my mobile then I contacted Airtel customer care number and customer care executive advised me to visit nearest Airtel outlet for resuming connection services. I took a new number and they assured me that services will be activated by evening and I was waiting for activation of my Airtel mobile connection. After few hours it was activated successfully.

Airtel customer care executives advised me to block all debit / credit cards immediately as in 3-4 days time, 05-06 cases have come to their office with same modus operandi. I immediately checked through phone banking my PNB Debit Card and found that amount of Rs.19, 000/- has been debited from my account. I also came to know through phone banking that a sum of Rs.75, 000/- debited to my credit card. These transactions made without my knowledge and consent. I tried calling on that number but number was switched off.

No resposne from Airtel

I advice people whenever you receive any call or email asking for your bank details or ask you to press any number on your number. Never do that or best solution is never responds to such calls or email. Don’t waste your time on such people the only result will be losing money.

Never buy pizzas from here. I went to Dominos pizza store in Bandra, Mumbai and showed 25% discount coupon applicable on a minimum bill value of Rs. 350 to the staff before placing the order. I placed an order as such :1 Farmhouse pizza regular size - Rs.130/-,2 stuffed garlic bread - Rs. 178 and 1 coke - Rs.29.17 and adding Service tax to it the bill totalled above 350/-.

Till the time i got the bill i was of the perception that i would get 25% off on the whole bill value but then when i got the bill after making payment i was shocked to my utter belief that deduction of 25% had been made only on the pizza value and not on the other side orders i had placed. When i went to the counter and queried this, one of the staff ignorantly said that even the discount on pizza value was wrongly given to me as my pizza value was not over 350/- to which i showed him the discount voucher and explained that discount was mentioned to be given on the bill value and nowhere was it written that the discount was only on pizza value to which he pointed in the voucher showing the discount was not applicable on simply veg. /non - veg pizzas, combos and beverages which i agreed but queried that unlike coke, garlic bread did not come under the term beverages and was a side order and so discount should have been given to me on that inclusively along with pizza value at least, but he refused to budge and replied that without coke my bill value was falling below Rs. 350/- to which I said that it was a senseless argument and the main criteria of the bill value being more than Rs.350/- was fulfilled. Not adhering to my request to change the bill i ultimately asked him to call the head of the store.

The head came and i explained him what had happened but he was more poorer in responding to my queries and told me that as the bill was already made he couldn't do anything and that further terms and conditions applied. When asked what were the terms and conditions he pointed me at the voucher showing T&C* apply sign at the end which made me angry. What are its terms and conditions and that i was not a fool and shall complain of cheating myself in the consumer court forum to which he shamelessly told me to go ahead with it. Being fussed at his behaviour I took the order placed and left the place. I never expected such an irresponsible behaviour from a reputed company's employees towards its customers.

Being fussed at his behaviour I took the order placed and left the place. I never expected such an irresponsible behaviour from a reputed company's employees towards its customers.

I advice people before placing the order you need to discuss all the things with the order executive about coupons, discounts and their term and conditions. So, you will not face any problem.

My family lives in a house with a huge garden, and like every year, we have to remove a massive 2-3 feet tall honeycomb from under our solar panels. We live in a society where a lot of local unregistered workers do garden work. We asked one such guy to come and remove the honey comb and give us the honey. He charged us with 350 Rs. per Kg of honey extracted and billed us for 34 kgs. It sure looked a lot. I wasn't home, my mother collected the honey in 4 different utensils. The weight did not feel suspicious to her. They even used a spring based weighing scale to measure the quantity.
I have a regular weighing scale in my room, so when I returned home, I used it to measure it and to my surprise, it was only 14 Kgs! They had tampered with the scale and we were cheated with an extra bill of 20 Kgs!

It is common in India to hire unlicensed garden laborers If it is something you can verify, ALWAYS verify. I made the mistake of not asking my mom to verify as a rule. I learned it the hard way. If you don't have a weighing scale, buy one. It isn't expensive and is very useful in general. At least in India, local workers are often the best solution due to convenience and lack of licensed laborers. Be very tough with them so they realize that cheating is not in their best interest.

I have recently travelled to India for an India Tour through Pakriti calling. The travel was well organized but I had few issues regarding Shopping. We were Traveling with a Group. The Tour guide took us to a Jewellery shop in Jaipur named Kisna jeweler. Most of the persons in our Group did not wanted to shop for the jewellery but the guide forced us a stopover at the Shop. When we asked him the cause, than he said that the company Pakriti had asked him to stop there for Shopping. When we entered the shop, the salesman showed us the jewellery collection and I liked one of the Ring with a Sapphire. The rate quoted for the ring was 950 Pound. But after negotiating, I bought it for 460 Pound. I was very happy that I got the ring on a huge discount of nearly 50%. But it seems I was wrong. When I came back to London, My friends advised me to Re-value the ring. I went to the Gems Laboratory and showed the ring to them. I was frightened to hear that the value of the ring was not more than 95 Pound and the sapphire was not original but it was synthetically treated sapphire. I am very much irritated and feeling like I have been conned and cheated. This has happened to me and I am not sure, how many people have been cheated and suffered from this kind of activities by Kisna Jewelers.
May I request to everyone who is on this Travel forum to advise me on what should I do. I would request everybody who is travelling with Pakriti not to shop anything from this shop because they do cheat the people and sell artificial products or the products with a very low quality. They are heavily money minded.

I don’t understand that why Pakriti prefers to make a stopover to this kind of cheat shop. One of my friends told me that they do get money from the shop when someone buys any stuff from this kind of shop. It is a kind of Racket in which Pakriti and Kisna jewelers are involved and both of them cheat the innocent travelers like us.

I tried calling kisna jeweller but their number is switched off.

Please stay away from this Shop called Kisna Jewelrs. I advice people when some guider or tour service person advised you to stop at the shopping place. Never buy some kind of clothes, jewelers or any other valuable stuff from there. I am feeling cheated so i am advising you never ever buy anything from them. After buying anything, you will feel what I am feeling. This is a request to everybody who is travelling with Pakriti not to shop anything from this shop because they do cheat the people and sell artificial products or the products with a very low quality. They are heavily money minded.

Olx.com has become one of the most well known, trusted and used e-tailing platform in India. By just creating an account, providing banking details and contacting possible buyers/sellers, an individual is able to work from their home and make huge sales. However, this has also made it easier for thieves to impersonate interested buyers and steal from the unsuspecting sellers. Motor vehicles, bikes, and other types of auto mobiles are the easier targets allowing thieves to laugh all the way to the bank after getting away easily.

After posting an advert, a buyer contact you and asks to meet you so that they can test the bike. You agree and allow them to ride for ten minutes, the next think, their phone goes off, no sight of your bike and no way to trace them.

OLX and other E-tailing platforms have developed strategies to curb such cases of theft. It is costing sellers and buyers some extra cash but this is worth it. The chances of an individual being conned are greatly reduced and OLX can fully take responsibility.

A month ago I ordered an embroidered lehenga choli from an Indian online shopping centre named as Rediff. As I was from Pakistan so they informed through email. All correspondence was done by email because they had no option of landline or cell phone numbers. On my sister’s wedding I have had to wear that. Before two weeks of wedding, my order had to arrive. It arrived after three days; they were making lots of excuses for this delay. Well I didn’t bother about delay. When parcel arrived I paid and became so much happy for it arrived earlier then wedding day at last. As I wore it on the day it was totally unbelievable. A very poor quality fabric was used and its size was also not like it was described. The cost was 599/- Indian rupees and also they charged 200 RS as extra for home delivery after deducting actual home delivery fees too. This entire incident was exclusively unbelievable and full of shock for my all family. All of us tried a lot to contact them through emails, we sent unlimited emails to them but they didn’t respond. Whenever I remember this incident I come in great wrath. I found this site today; I wish I could have had find this site at that time so that I’d be able to share the images of those emails and the dress, both of which are even not available in trash. I finished every memory in rage.

Never

I would advise please never made online orders of dresses especially for events like weddings and particularly not from out of the state of country. And if you do this, before paying just go and check it on time and if you have paid, then check your order must within stated limit of refund or return policy of that company.

its already been told that after the payment of the amount 10% cashback will be transferred to my account
after the payment,the cashback amount was given to me but not on my account,in mobikwik wallet and i can use only 10% of the money for every transaction.it was not specified in terms and conditions.

mobikwik service is very bad

Last Year we have taken services for 5 years by paying Rs. 5940/-. Since last so many months we are facing the problem on our website that is getting hacked by some or the other way.

We have tried to call Go daddy center, for resolving this issue however they are unable to do so by providing different reasons in one of the conversation we had been asked to purchase SSL certificate for resolving this issue on permanent bases. On good faith we had accepted this resolution & had purchased this necessary certificate by paying Rs. 3500

However this solution didn't work & we had been forced to call center that hacking problem is still exist. At that time we were happy that we had been refunded the paid amount by cancelling the necessary certificate, however we were fed up of not getting the permanent solution of hacking.

On 8th April, 2017 we had been approached by Mr. Singla with one of the resolution stating that we are eagerly to help you for permanent solution, as per him he had suggested us to pay the charges of 1 year that Rs. 1300 approx, for discontinue of our services & we will refund your complete amount of rs. 5940/- in your bank account, which was paid for starting of hosting services. On good faith they we have accepted the resolution.

He has confirmed that he cannot cancel the partial invoice otherwise refund amount will be credited into my wallet. Hence we have rejected the option of partial invoice an as agreed to pay necessary amount of Rs. 1300 approx for necessary usage done since April 17. Another point which he had confirmed the over the call that you need to withdraw the database before cancelling the hosting services. Again on your good faith we have accepted the said option why withdrawing our all database date 9th April, 2017.

As instructed by Mr. Singla on 8th April we have fulfilled all necessary procedure / accepted necessary instruction that is we need to call back to pay Rs. 1300 post withdrawing our database.

To my surprise it was a hell experience when i had call with Mr. Singla today morning to pay Rs. 1300 approx for cancelling services. Now today he is confirming that he cannot fulfill his promised / commitment.

No response

Never trust on Godaddy

Every time an email comes to you with a subject looking like this. Especially regarding PayPal, be careful.

What's going on?

Please log in to your PayPal account and complete the steps to confirm your identity and recent account activity. To help protect your account, access will remain limited until you complete the necessary steps.

The security of your PayPal account is a top priority for us and we want to work together to help protect it.

Be careful. They just want you to click on some button or link or a picture in the email to take you to some website where they will start asking for your personal information to smooch money off of you.

When we was suffering from ransomeware issue. Mcafee was unable to support us.
Before the time we purchase they promissed for every support from them but in actual they was not supported after purchase and installation.

I had a problem with my charging port. The model of my laptop being discontinued, it was hard to get the original repair parts. This was told to me by Laptech Solutions. It sounded normal. So, I decided to cancel my repair order and pay for the diagnostics only. They Okayed it.

They told me that the laptop is in their warehouse and it will take 2 days for it to reach the store. I agreed to return to the shop and collect it in 2 days. I visited the store 3 times and called every day after 2 days. My laptop had not arrived. When I spoke with the manager, she seemed shocked by the staff's' irresponsibility. I do not think the manager even bothered to check what's happening. I finally threatened to call the police.

They shrugged me off by giving illogical responses like they removed a component for testing and it would come later). I had not authorized them to do anything of that sort.
When I threatened to call the police things changed. They immediately called and told the manager that I am taking this to the police. They finally sent one of their store staff to pick it up and return it. It took them 2 hours to return it to me.

If you are in Pune, India. Laptech solutions is the last place you should go to. They even have an abysmal rating on google reviews. In a situation like this, don't hesitate to make it a legal issue. And always review such shops when their service is bad. For me threatening to call the cops worked, it was 2 weeks late and the repair order had been canceled. While in many first world countries, repairs and warranties go through a number of channels, in India, there is hardly any
'processing time'.

Yantra Seva is a computer repair company that sends people to pick up the broken computers. One such guy picked up my laptop and returned a repaired one. The job was well done. However, when he was inside the house to do the billing, I asked him to sit on the sofa. My mother's mobile phone was kept on the sofa set. This guy finished his billing and we were done paying. After he left. I looked for the phone and I couldn't find it. I called the pickup man to ask if he accidentally took the phone or not. His phone was switched off. Never to be turned on again. That number was discontinued and we could never find that person nor could we trace our stolen phone. It was taken from under our nose and we didn't realize it. We never found it again. There was no other place the phone could go.

We could never get in touch with the pickup/delivery guy. Yantra Seva strongly claimed that it is impossible that he took the phone.

When someone comes home, be it anyone, be vigilant. Anyone could be a thief. Just about anyone. If you are not in a position to catch someone red-handed, you might lose your valuables.

Asking for confidential bank details with photograph to send prize taking name of respectable company facebook.com.

Facebook Charity Award Office,
22 Ganton Street, London, W1F 7BY
United Kingdom Tel: +447937429559
Email: faceflashuk@outlook.com
Visit our website: www.facebook.com

Attention Beneficiary,
This is to inform you, that your Email has won you a prize of £750,000.00 GBP (Seven Hundred And Fifty Thousand Great British pounds Only)and one SAMSUNG GALAXY S4, (WITH 16GB) www.facebook.com. Your Email Address were selected through a computer balloting system drawn from Nine hundred thousand emails from worldwide emails as part of our international promotions which is conducted annually, we have only six selected winners, which their email id are active online to be paid, and you are one of the Selected Winners.
MAKE SURE YOU SEND YOUR DETAILS TO THIS EMAIL} faceflashuk@outlook.com TO ENABLE US RESPOND TO YOU ON TIME
1 Name
2 Addresses:
3. Country/State
4. Mobile No:
5. Age
6. Sex
7. Occupation
8. Language Known
9. Email...
10. Your Full Name
11. Your Bank Name
12. Account Number:
13. Bank Address.

Please ensure that you send all the required details to this email (faceflashuk@outlook.com) to enable us respond to you on time without any delay, make sure you forward your complete details including bank details to for easy release of you winning prize and also a scan copy (4x4) passport size photograph.

Please do not share any details with these fake email senders it can harm your bank balance.

We hired Manoj Joshi through a recommendation. Sadly, it was a disaster for us. He used duplicate bathroom fittings, poor quality ACs, very poor wiring inside the walls, billed for extra soil to repair the foundation (which he did not), and a dozen more things. A new electrician who cleaned up Manoj's job told us that the wiring standards were illegal for a bungalow and we could've taken him to court. Leaving aside the lack of finesse in his work. We are wealthy family, so we did not compromise on the quality of raw materials (tiles, cables, wood, bulbs, etc). We were billed for the high grade material, but every person who came to repair shorted wires, leaks, cracks in the walls, etc. showed us how bad the quality is. Monetary loss is estimated to be upwards of 10 Lakh rupees.

He often denied the poor quality and over time, absconded. His electrician was responsible for quality check which were completely ignored and he lied about things being OK.

When you suspect something is going wrong at the level of your Bungalow's architecture & interiors, lawyer up and take it to court. People like Manoj and his electrician deserve to be jailed for such cheating. One can forgive small discrepancies, but, make sure that you are cross-checking everything even if it means taking days off work. Check every bill. Call the retail store/contractor from where your architect made purchases. If possible, go with architect. Most importantly, make a very detailed legal contract which ensures that the architect will be prosecuted if there is a problem. I have linked his email ID and contact info here, do not go to this guy. Don't hesitate to call the cops.

Back in 2011, I was a part of a rock band which entered the band competition hosted by SIBM. I was the guitarist of that band who won the best guitarist title which was a Rs. 5000 ($77 US dollars). It's a huge amount for a college going Indian 20 year old. I received a certificate and was told that the prize money would be awarded at the end of the week as cash in an envelope. This is not odd in India. I went there to collect it a week later and I was infuriated because the organizing team was not present there. I took some numbers and wrote a letter addressing the problem. I kept calling for months and there was no response. I lost my precious prize money.

Someone would occasionally answer and tell me that it's processing. The college did not take responsibility for this, the blame was pushed on the students who organized. A total of 6 months later, I was told that the student batch had graduated. There were no means of communication.

When you win a prize money in India. Make it a big deal so that people are aware. That adds pressure. Had I jumped around announcing it to everyone, the problem wouldn't have faded away. Also, make sure you take the money on the day you earn it. I mean, don't let the organizers push it to the next day. It's your money, claim it. If at all it is not possible, be ready to demand a written commitment to honour the prize.