'Scammed' by Anonymous: Book Review

"Scammed" is a fiction written by an unknown author. No idea why he chose to remain anonymous-may be it is a real story and he feared life threats? or anything else?

"Scammed" is another corporate fiction I read this weekend after Puneet Gupta's "The Suicide Banker". Scammed is a story of an accountant, who while slogging for a cheap salary at an auditing firm, discovers several irregularities at one of their clients- Supreme Motors

Hitesh is a hard working accountant, who is denied his rightful promotion and is subjected to excessive workload. During one such assignments, he discovers that his client- Supreme motors have falsified books, several malpractices and are in a precarious financial position. But Hitesh is pressurized from all corners to tone down his findings and not to create any trouble. During a meeting with Supreme Motor’s boss, Venugopal Reddy, Hitesh explains him possible ways of fixing company’s troubles and one of them being to launch a cab company, which can use cars manufactured by Supreme Motors. However, the investment comes in from a politician with unaccounted money, routed through various foreign companies.

The new company kicks off, Hitesh quits his thankless job of accountant and is made CEO of the new cab company. He defines business model, builds a team and is soon on cloud 9. Supercabs seems to be doing great, expanding rapidly and Hitesh getting all lime light and media attention. Share prices of Supreme Motors rise as well.

However, rapid expansion results in poor quality checks and many other complications, most created due to poor quality of outdated vehicles and some selfish acts by former employees of supreme motors, whose fraudulent activities had cost them their jobs. Soon the empire begins to tremble- workers go on strike, customers complain of poor service and harassment, source of funds are questions and company and its CEO’s ethics is questioned. Eventually it forces the owners and top management to go into hiding, till Hitesh manages to come out clean.

Book focuses heavily on Hitesh- his professional and personal life, ups and downs. How he rises to top, falls to bottom and recovers from the crisis is well narrated in the book. To a common man, it narrates functioning of the company, how frauds can take birth and grow its tentacles.

Book made a good read, but question still unanswered is, who wrote this book and why did he chose to remain anonymous?

Book has 175 pages and is priced at Rs 175 (available cheaper online) and published by <>, it is a good read if you enjoy corporate/business stories. Book has multiple names on it- Silverfish, Westland,Grey Oak publishers etc, so looks like a combined effort.

Also read: Devils in Pinstripes * The Incredible Banker * Bankster *