Founder of India's $4 Smartphone Firm Arrested on Allegations of Fraud

Remember the $4 smartphone from India? Yeah, things haven't really materialized. Reuters reports: The founder of an Indian tech firm that shot to prominence by offering a $4 smartphone has been arrested on allegations of fraud, after a handset dealer accused the company of not refunding him for an unfulfilled order, the police said. Mohit Goel, the founder of Ringing Bells, was arrested Thursday afternoon in Uttar Pradesh and will be produced in court later on Friday, said Rahul Srivastav, a police spokesman from the northern Indian state. Goel and his company made headlines last year with the "Freedom" smartphone, which was priced at 251 rupees ($3.77), attracting strong demand but also widespread scepticism and scrutiny from regulators even in price-conscious India, where cheap smartphones are big sellers. The founder was arrested after a dealer said he had paid 3 million Indian rupees for an order of handsets but had received only a fraction of the order. He further said some of the phones received were defective, according to the police.

Re:Wait, $3.77?

[DontBeAMoran]

At that price, you could almost heat up your house with these in a wood stove. Real burner phones!

Re:

[Maritz]

No such thing as "pollution".

No wonder

[dmesg0]

$4 is less than even the BOM of an iPhone

Re:No wonder

[GuB-42]

$4 is just a token price. The government is expected to pay for the bill.
It is less than the BOM of a Nokia 105 ($13.50), a dumb phone that retails for $20.

Re:

[windwalkr]

"Bill of Materials" - the individual components necessary to make the product.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

Re:

[Maritz]

That's you on the no-fly list. Enjoy.

Re:

[rmdingler]

There is no way you could profitably make a $4 smartphone without some sort of subsidy, regardless of the fraud issue.

Unless you could lock the purchasers into a multiyear contract for usage in exchange for the cheap phone.

Re:

[HornWumpus]

In India? Lookup 'Judgement proof'.

I was going to add that it didn't apply to all Indians, but the ones with money can buy judges, so it really does.

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[Maritz]

Didn't you mod yourself up? You new to this sockpuppet malarkey?

Re:

[Maritz]

And what a *SURPRISE*, they both make Android phones.

You sound smart. Not quite smart enough to realise that everyone makes Android phones, but smart nonetheless.

Missed a y, claims honest typo.

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

The founder of that company claimed that he was merely smart person and a phony dealer. He meant to register "Smartphony" as the brand name to hawk "Rs 251 Smartphony". Once you pay 251 rupees and get a brick you would realize the device was phony not phone. And the buyer will learn the lesson, become smart and not fall prey to such scams in the future.

But the autocorrect changed it to smartphone and caused all this misunderstanding. He plans to sue to auto correct software vendor for defamation, slander and scurrilous calumnies.

Re:

[Desler]

Once all these charges are dealt with he should be more than qualified to be the next chairman of the Samsung chaebol.

He should emigrate.

[Cyberpunk Reality]

Here in the US, that's just smart business practices. Heck, if he wasn't an immigrant, he would make a perfect president!