black money in india

The black money scam, sometimes also known as the 'wash wash scam', is a scam where con artists attempt to fraudulently obtain money from a victim by persuading him or her that piles of banknote-sized paper in a trunk or a safe is really money which has been dyed black (e.g. to avoid detection by customs). The victim is persuaded to pay for chemicals to wash the "money" with a promise that he will share in the proceeds.
The black money scam first appeared around the year 2000

Phases of the scam

 First contact

Typically the scammer will send out thousands, if not millions of e-mails to known and random e-mail addresses, hoping for a few replies. The initial message may read something like this:

I am a lawyer in Belgium and I am charged with seeking the rightful heir to certain assets which were deposited many years ago with a security company here in Brussels by a man who died a few years ago. We have made extensive searches to find any living heirs, but with minimal success. A man with your name is named in the Will and Testament as being the only beneficiary of these assets. We believe that you may be the person entitled and are writing to enquire if you have any dead relatives or friends who may have named you as a beneficiary of these assets in their will and testament. If so please let us have their names and any other information so we can check if you are indeed the beneficiary. The amount of the assets is $150,000 and one large trunk, contents unknown. Please reply immediately

Reporting of the crime

Most such frauds are not reported by the victims for several reasons. Firstly they may feel terribly ashamed that they could be so naïve. Secondly, many of the scams will involve the victim knowingly agreeing to receive the proceeds of a crime - e.g. he may be informed that it is drug money, tax evasion money, or simply stolen. Sometimes the scammer will have persuaded the victim to incriminate himself, e.g. by falsifying a document, or lying on a tax declaration etc. The victim may thus be reluctant to come forward and admit that he was knowingly participating in what he thought was a criminal scheme.

$1.4 Trillion India’s Black Money Stashed in Swiss Banks

 

According to the data provided by the Swiss bank, India has more black money than rest of the world combined. India topping the list with almost $1500 Billion black money in swiss banks, followed by Russia $470 Billion, UK $390 Billion, Ukraine $100 Billion and China with $96 Billion.
It’s embarrassing for any country to top the list of black money holders. The money which belongs to the nation and it’s citizens, is stashed in the illegal personal accounts of corrupt politicians, IRS, IPS officers and industrialists. An amount which is 13 times larger than the nations foreign debt. Every year this amount is increasing at a rapid speed but the Indian government seem to be silent over this matter from a very long time. The total black money accounts for 40% of GDP of India, if all the money comes back to India then that could result in huge growth burst for India.
A nation where more than 450 million live below the poverty line, which means they make less than $1.25/day. By bringing back the black money back to the country there is so much which can be done for the development of the nation and the people who live below poverty line. India will also be able to clear all their foreign debts in 24Hrs. Even if all the taxes are abolished, the government can maintain the country easily for 30 years.
It’s been found that about 80 thousand people travel to Switzerland every year of whom around 25 thousand travel frequently. Those travelling on regular basis must be doing it for some reason.
The Indian government needs to take some serious steps to get the money back to India which is stashed in Swiss banks. They should work to find out the names of account holders in Swiss banks and also pressurize Swiss bank to get the black money back to the country. This has also become a matter of pride of nation and if the government still keeps silence about this issue then they will only be making themselves a laughing stock for the entire world.