- This topic has 38 replies, 32 voices, and was last updated 1 year, 1 month ago by
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CHi Reddit,
I’m 24 and was working as a Full Stack Developer for a startup based in Noida. I joined in December 2023, and my actual agreed salary was ₹31,000/month.
But things got shady really quick.
The company used a third-party payroll service to credit my salary starting from March 2024. But instead of ₹31k, the salary credited (and mentioned on the offer letter/salary slips) was ₹85,000/month.
The founder and director (M) along with his co-founder (F) (but mainly the founder) convinced me (in a “friendly but constant pressure” way) to apply for personal loans using these fake inflated salary slips. He said the company was struggling and needed funds urgently and promised that EMIs would be taken care of by him/the company.
They made me apply for three loans of ₹2.15 lakhs, ₹10.19 lakhs, ₹2.81 lakhs from 3 different but popular NBFC providers.
All of this money got credited to my bank account and was then transferred to their friends’/associates’ accounts as instructed by him. I didn’t keep a single rupee except my actual ₹31k salary. A draft agreement was made where he acknowledged this setup, but the founder never signed it.
Everything was going “fine” (I got ₹85k, kept ₹31k, returned the rest), until Feb 2025 when he stopped paying me altogether and ghosted me. Now I’m facing harassment from recovery agents, and I’m legally on the hook for loans that were never mine to begin with.
He even tried blaming me saying that because I didn’t agree to take more loans, the company ran out of money. It’s been hell.
I really need your help.
I’ve drafted a police complaint but haven’t filed an FIR yet. I’m not from a legal background. I don’t even know what IPC sections or laws apply here. I’ve kept screenshots, salary slips, bank statements, the draft agreement, everything.
Can someone guide me on:
What legal charges this falls under?
Should I go to the police first or a lawyer?
Should I approach a labor court, civil court, or consumer forum?
Can I protect myself from loan recovery action?
Can I get help without telling my parents right now?
Also, since the startup shut down and didn’t do well, no one even recognises the company now. I’ve been applying for jobs for the past few months and can’t find a job where my 1+ year of experience is even counted. Everyone either doubts it or disregards it because the company has no credibility anymore. I even got just over 90%ille in CAT that year but left it thinking to prepare more seriously and this job experience may help in the interview but now niether am I able to prepare due to constant harrassment nor I think this experience will help. It feels like I wasted all this time, and it’s affecting my confidence and career badly.
If you’ve dealt with something similar or are a lawyer/know someone who is, please help. I’m genuinely lost, and this has affected my mental health badly.
Please share this if you think it could help prevent others from falling into such a trap especially in shady startup environments.
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MThis was a red flag right from the start, you cannot even believe your family members nowadays let alone strangers. And you believed this scam company!! Since you don’t have CEO’s signature I don’t think you can get him the loop. Recorf the bank account numbers and transaction ID’s to whom you have transferred the amount, along with bank statements and go to a lawyer to see what can be done and what case to file then proceed accordingly.
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MIs this a joke ? He explained in friendly terms.. he didn’t sign… What the hell is this ? Are you educated?
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PThose were not fake salary slips , you got the exact amount and you have something from it on your discretion , it’s not illegal
You used your salary slips to take loan and transferred the amount at your discretion. Which is again not legal . All you can ask them if the money back from them which doesn’t have any agreement ,they can claim it to be a gift or Repayment
You don’t have legal grounds unless many more employees are frauded too which can give more light to the situation
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MYou are like, at the bottom of the barrel in terms of common sense. This is so bad it almost feels like a troll post. If this isn’t a troll post, you deserve this. Darwinism will take effect. Call me harsh and rude, but if this story is true, you really deserve whatever you are going through.
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SI don’t think filing FIR will do anything good in this scenario.
You, in sound mind and body, took out loans from your own account and funded a company. That company went kaput, and the loaners are coming for you because it’s your name on the loan, as they should.
It’s not a scam. As you said, they did not forcibly coerce you; they said stuff to you that you believed.
This is so dumb that I’m inclined to think that it’s a troll post.
If not, file for insolvency then bankruptcy.
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SSorry to hear this man, we all make mistakes and learn from them, but this is a huge one. I am wondering, do you have any support for consulting regarding these matters, like from parents or anyone trustworthy? I assume not, and took these bad decisions by yourself. People will trample you here for being stupid, ignore that. You are only stupid if you don’t learn and start acting on coming out of this situation with a well thought out plan. There will always be a way, believe it.
Definitely get a lawyer ASAP, before that know this that there is no knowledge that is not power. Equip yourself with the knowledge of applicable laws like loan recovery by banks, recovery agents, consequences of financial legal cases, provisions of the law for defaulters for such cases, bankruptcy, etc. So that you do not again get scammed by some lawyer.
This game that we play called living in India is on hard mode by default, get street wise ASAP to survive this game.
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AThe only option I see is , contact some really powerful leader or brine some big cop to bring the money by force.
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AWe all make mistakes, this is why employees should never get involve too much in management, I’m sure they told you all kind of promises before taking the money, the best u can say is to get in touch with the lawyer, they might be able to give you some helpful suggestion, I’m sorry that you’re going through this bro, with time, everything is going to be alright.
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