Rising to the (scam)bait

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Editor's note: Amit Chauhan almost had it all. He wore bespoke clothes, planned luxury getaways, and paid rent so obscene, it’d make midtown Manhattan blush. He spent $6,840 (Rs 5 lakh and change) each month to live in a penthouse in DLF Magnolias, the kind of enclave that comes with valets, Olympic-size pools, gilded bars and restaurants, gold-class theatres, and all manner of opulence you’d associate with the bourgeoisie in Gurugram. He also owned Porsches and Jaguars with VIP plates. Chauhan hails from the moribund town of Pillukhera, Haryana, and achieved all this before he was 30. No wonder people wanted to be him. His Facebook profile read ‘Entrepreneur who is trying to print his name in world’s top business magazines’, and from the looks of it, he was well on his way. The limelight did find its way to Amit Chauhan. But not in the way he wanted. You probably read or heard about him in March 2020. If not, here’s a primer: Chauhan used his company, Faremart Travels, as a front for one of the largest scamming businesses headquartered in …