Victim of rogue trading at Bullraj Investments, Bangalore

[prakashmr]

Myself and my brother hold accounts with Bullraj Investments, Bangalore. They claim to be one of the sub-brokers for Angel Broking.

While everything has been fine with my account as I regularly trade and check my demat statements, my brother has been a victim of rogue trading.

My brother has purchased around Rs. 1 lakh worth of shares in last 3 years but none of them has been credited to his demat account.
When he questioned the sub-broker, Venkatesh at Bullraj Investment, he said that the shares are still in Angel Broking account and because of some technical issues, it could not been transferred to his demat account. He assured that it will be transferred to his demat account in due course.

In spite of repeated chase-ups, it didn't happen. My brother called up Bullraj Investments and said that he wanted to sell some of the shares he had purchased as he needed some funds and he wanted to put a sell request.

He was shocked when he was told that there were no shares in his account(neither they were in Angel Broking account).

The sub-broker in question, Venkatesh admits that he messed up with my brother's shares while doing some intra-day trading for profit booking. But he is refusing to commit himself for compensating my brother.

He gives the explanation that he was banking on making profits by buying some stocks using my brother's account and then selling it at high price to book profit. But the shares he bought lost half its value and he had to dispose of my brother's shares to compensate his losses.

So, his unauthorised trading has left my brother's account in debit as per their records.

He is saying that whenever he has some spare cash, he will pay my brother.
He is unwilling to say how much amount he will pay or when he will pay.
We have been very polite and diplomatic so far but no luck.

All requests my brother placed for purchases of shares were over the phone.
The only written proof my bother has for purchasing these shares are the cheques he made payable to Angel Broking after each of his Buy Requests had been executed.

What would be the best way to get his shares/money back?
Any advice will be welcome.

Thanks,
Prakash

 

[comm4300]

.....much better advice below by SG.

 

[SavantGarde]

Sub-Broker maintains deposit with the Trading Member (In You case Angel Broking). Suggest you send an email giving Angel Broking Details of the Sub-Brokers Misdeeds..... and sign off the letter with a statement...giving Angel Broking 3 Working Days to sort this out along with Interest... or You will follow up with SEBI, Exchanges & the Depository which I think would be CDSL...!!!

Letter should have a no-nonsense tone to it... and should mean Business.... Kapisch

SG

Myself and my brother hold accounts with Bullraj Investments, Bangalore. They claim to be one of the sub-brokers for Angel Broking.

While everything has been fine with my account as I regularly trade and check my demat statements, my brother has been a victim of rogue trading.

My brother has purchased around Rs. 1 lakh worth of shares in last 3 years but none of them has been credited to his demat account.
When he questioned the sub-broker, Venkatesh at Bullraj Investment, he said that the shares are still in Angel Broking account and because of some technical issues, it could not been transferred to his demat account. He assured that it will be transferred to his demat account in due course.

In spite of repeated chase-ups, it didn't happen. My brother called up Bullraj Investments and said that he wanted to sell some of the shares he had purchased as he needed some funds and he wanted to put a sell request.

He was shocked when he was told that there were no shares in his account(neither they were in Angel Broking account).

The sub-broker in question, Venkatesh admits that he messed up with my brother's shares while doing some intra-day trading for profit booking. But he is refusing to commit himself for compensating my brother.

He gives the explanation that he was banking on making profits by buying some stocks using my brother's account and then selling it at high price to book profit. But the shares he bought lost half its value and he had to dispose of my brother's shares to compensate his losses.

So, his unauthorised trading has left my brother's account in debit as per their records.

He is saying that whenever he has some spare cash, he will pay my brother.
He is unwilling to say how much amount he will pay or when he will pay.
We have been very polite and diplomatic so far but no luck.

All requests my brother placed for purchases of shares were over the phone.
The only written proof my bother has for purchasing these shares are the cheques he made payable to Angel Broking after each of his Buy Requests had been executed.

What would be the best way to get his shares/money back?
Any advice will be welcome.

Thanks,
Prakash

 

[Sachin Kimuskan]

Myself and my brother hold accounts with Bullraj Investments, Bangalore. They claim to be one of the sub-brokers for Angel Broking.

While everything has been fine with my account as I regularly trade and check my demat statements, my brother has been a victim of rogue trading.

My brother has purchased around Rs. 1 lakh worth of shares in last 3 years but none of them has been credited to his demat account.
When he questioned the sub-broker, Venkatesh at Bullraj Investment, he said that the shares are still in Angel Broking account and because of some technical issues, it could not been transferred to his demat account. He assured that it will be transferred to his demat account in due course.

In spite of repeated chase-ups, it didn't happen. My brother called up Bullraj Investments and said that he wanted to sell some of the shares he had purchased as he needed some funds and he wanted to put a sell request.

He was shocked when he was told that there were no shares in his account(neither they were in Angel Broking account).

The sub-broker in question, Venkatesh admits that he messed up with my brother's shares while doing some intra-day trading for profit booking. But he is refusing to commit himself for compensating my brother.

He gives the explanation that he was banking on making profits by buying some stocks using my brother's account and then selling it at high price to book profit. But the shares he bought lost half its value and he had to dispose of my brother's shares to compensate his losses.

So, his unauthorised trading has left my brother's account in debit as per their records.

He is saying that whenever he has some spare cash, he will pay my brother.
He is unwilling to say how much amount he will pay or when he will pay.
We have been very polite and diplomatic so far but no luck.

All requests my brother placed for purchases of shares were over the phone.
The only written proof my bother has for purchasing these shares are the cheques he made payable to Angel Broking after each of his Buy Requests had been executed.

What would be the best way to get his shares/money back?
Any advice will be welcome.

Thanks,
Prakash

Hi Prakash, I think you should approach to their greviance department with your complaint. They will surely address your concerns. Write a mail or better option call them up on their helpline number

 

[prakashmr]

UPDATE regarding the complaint:
Since there was no communication from Angel Broking regarding my brother's complaint even after 10 working days, he called up on 02-MAR-2012 to get an update.
He was promised of a callback on Saturday from the official looking into his complaint.
The customer service representative called on Saturday. To our disappointment, the officer said that their investigation did not reveal any foul play. He also started advising my brother that incurring losses is always a risk with shares.
My brother told him that he does not require a lecture about share trading and its risks and reiterated that the complaint was about unauthorised transactions done by the sub-broker in his account.
However, the Angel official said that as my brother has been receiving digital contract notes and other mailers regularly from Angel Broking to his residential address and he didn't bring it to their notice till now, nothing can be done. He said that the complaint dates back to transactions which have happened over a year ago and he should have initmated Angel Broking immediately after receiving the quarterly statements.
He also said that they have enquired with the sub-broker and the sub-broker confirmed that all transactions were intiated at my brother's request.
If Angel Broking only trusts what the sub-broker says and doesn't believe the client's version of events, then it is hard to expect any action/justice from them.
Planning to escalate this to regulatory authorities now.
Any suggestions in this regard are welcome.

Thanks,
Prakash

 

[Tejpal Rathore]

UPDATE regarding the complaint:
Since there was no communication from Angel Broking regarding my brother's complaint even after 10 working days, he called up on 02-MAR-2012 to get an update.
He was promised of a callback on Saturday from the official looking into his complaint.
The customer service representative called on Saturday. To our disappointment, the officer said that their investigation did not reveal any foul play. He also started advising my brother that incurring losses is always a risk with shares.
My brother told him that he does not require a lecture about share trading and its risks and reiterated that the complaint was about unauthorised transactions done by the sub-broker in his account.
However, the Angel official said that as my brother has been receiving digital contract notes and other mailers regularly from Angel Broking to his residential address and he didn't bring it to their notice till now, nothing can be done. He said that the complaint dates back to transactions which have happened over a year ago and he should have initmated Angel Broking immediately after receiving the quarterly statements.
He also said that they have enquired with the sub-broker and the sub-broker confirmed that all transactions were intiated at my brother's request.
If Angel Broking only trusts what the sub-broker says and doesn't believe the client's version of events, then it is hard to expect any action/justice from them.
Planning to escalate this to regulatory authorities now.
Any suggestions in this regard are welcome.

Thanks,
Prakash

Hi Prakash, I think you should speak with their greviance team once again. They have handled my case and have provided me with satisfying reply

 

[prakashmr]

Tried escalating the issue at Angel Broking. The complaint was again forwarded to the same officer who had initially looked into it.
Got the same response after three days which said that their stand remains the same and they believe all trades were done with my brother's(client's) consent.

As there is no further scope of escalation or any hope of resolution within Angel Broking, I would like to escalate this to the regulatory authorities.

Any suggestions regarding this will be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Prakash

 

[sanjosedesi]

Tried escalating the issue at Angel Broking. The complaint was again forwarded to the same officer who had initially looked into it.
Got the same response after three days which said that their stand remains the same and they believe all trades were done with my brother's(client's) consent.

#1. You need to go outside Angel and complain to SEBI etc. Go camp at the broker's office. Make it nasty.
#2. Part of the problem lies at your brother's end. 3 years without checking an account is a big problem. While I am sorry to hear what happened, think of how a vigilance / investigation department is going to solve this case? What evidence do they have besides the complaint?

 

[Sachin Kimuskan]

Tried escalating the issue at Angel Broking. The complaint was again forwarded to the same officer who had initially looked into it.
Got the same response after three days which said that their stand remains the same and they believe all trades were done with my brother's(client's) consent.

As there is no further scope of escalation or any hope of resolution within Angel Broking, I would like to escalate this to the regulatory authorities.

Any suggestions regarding this will be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Prakash

Hi, I think you should have approached them a bit earlywaiting for so long before complaining might have weakend your case.

 

[Sachin Kimuskan]

#1. You need to go outside Angel and complain to SEBI etc. Go camp at the broker's office. Make it nasty.
#2. Part of the problem lies at your brother's end. 3 years without checking an account is a big problem. While I am sorry to hear what happened, think of how a vigilance / investigation department is going to solve this case? What evidence do they have besides the complaint?

Yes, I agreeyou shouldnt have waited for 3 years