They use SMSs to lay the trap. Once you swallow the bait -- the promise of sexual gratification from the ‘hottest’ of such ‘service providers’ -- you are asked to deposit  money in a particular bank account. But once you and your money part company, it is finish. No calls are answered and no messages acknowledged.

This is how a Delhi-based company has been ‘winning over’ the lonely (and lecherous) hearts in Bangalore and other places for more than a year now.

The modus operandi is simple. A message is sent to mobile phones at random. The sender's ‘number’ will be garbled.

If you dig deeper, you learn that it has been sent via internet. The message promises a host of ‘services’ involving men and women and says you can get in touch with ‘Roshani’ on 09871269046.

Legal business
Once you contact the number, ‘Roshani’ discloses that her company offers membership in two categories of "services". The company? “Uni Services” and “our business is legal." The message is also sent on registered internet service provider.

“People take membership for pleasure. No fear of police raids. One can take the girls to parties (‘as some of them are very sophisticated’). People’d think she is your wife. There are many women members too, those whose husbands are away," Roshani adds.

The company, she says, has branches at Juhu in Mumbai, Banjara Hills in Hyderabad, Vijayanagar in Bangalore and Delhi. "It is a legal business; our payments are accepted through ICICI bank (account number 017701517359)". Then, she lists out the services available to "members".

"We confirm the membership within four hours of payment is made. We will give you a number and you will have to memorise it. Then, we will do profile matching to avoid people meeting those familiar, to spare them embarrassment.”

“Members will be sent six photographs every month and four contacts can be made in a month. In a year, you can meet 48 people," she says, the stress so strongly on the number.

“We already have a membership of over 1,500 in Bangalore alone, including airhostesses, executives, single women, ‘dissatisfied’ housewives and those whose husbands are abroad. In most cases, the women will take you to their company guest houses. You need not have to pay the girls," she insists at least half a dozen times during  the conversation.

The ‘slabs’
Then, she states that membership is available in two slabs -- Rs 10,000 and Rs 15,000. In the Rs 10,000 category, men could meet upper middle-class girls and women.

Those after ‘executives’ and ‘airhostesses’, pony up an extra Rs 5,000”.

After the first call, the lady keeps calling till the caller agrees to be a ‘member’. She is ready to scale down the fee “provided you don’t tell to the ‘girls’ as ‘they’d feel bad, you know!" She assures you she can be contacted anytime. But she refuses to send ‘sample’ pictures.

Once the would-be ‘member’ deposits the money in the bank, the phone at the other end mysteriously falls silent. By chance, if ‘Roshani’ picks up the phone, she will ask the ‘member’ to call back “as the profile matching is being done”.

But that her call never comes.

THE TRAP
A blow-by-blow account

It all started with a zap message received by a Deccan Herald staffer. Out of curiosity, the paper decided to follow it up. There was also the doubt that it could be a case of a frustrated man bent on defaming a girl. In any case, this is the sequence of what ultimately proved non-events:

May 2: Message received from z9a8c5g. Message reads:
Z9a8c5g.126407 WELCOME to all Males/Females for FUN. Romance, Dating, Chatting, FRIENDSHIP with Broadminded people in your area. Call 09871269046, Roshani./ Sender z9a8c5g.
DH makes efforts to find out how such a message could be sent. Attempts to reach the number fail.

May 10: On being contacted, Airtel reveals the number is from Delhi.

May 11: Airtel technical team says it could be a zap message. It suggests lodging of a complaint with the police to get full details as it needs an FIR from police to pursue the case. The team felt that possibly the number could have been taken from a website. The team feels the message could have been sent from a computer and says message cannot be blocked. One official suggests the caller not visit ‘unwanted’ sites.

May 12: No response to a message sent to the mobile telephone.

May 14: Complaint lodged with the Vijayanagar police. Police are baffled and initially say SMS could not be treated as a complaint. No one could offer a reason as to how a garbled message could appear on mobile.

May 15: First contact made with a lady, claiming to be Roshani, on phone. She give ‘details’ as if via a recorded message (being a legal business, no need to fear the cops, etc, etc), mostly in Hindi.

May 16: ‘Roshani’ calls twice but refuses to send pictures. But continues from where she left off: "You can meet hot women. Their membership has been growing steadily. We send messages on recognized service providers. Gives account number of ICICI Bank and name of account-holder Anshu Malik. She wants the payment made the same day.

May 17: Enquiries at Vijayanagar ICICI bank reveal that the account is operational in the name of Malik. As the bank refuses to give details, the paper taps other sources to learn that the account was opened on January 28, 2006. Transactions are regular and quite a few deposits (in the range of Rs 15,000 and Rs 10,000) have been made.

A lady calls twice pleading that the money be deposited ‘today itself’. The new carrot: “I can even upgrade you to the Rs 15,000 bracket (on payment of Rs 10,000)”.

May 18: Call requesting for payment before 1100 hrs. Money deposited in the bank. But no response to the two SMSs.

May 19: No response to two calls, made in the morning and evening.

May 22: No response to an SMD and four calls.

May 23: Lady picks up a call made from a landline. Disconnects on hearing the voice. Thereafter, no reply to calls made from mobile phone. However, calls made by two others seeking ‘membership’ are answered and ‘details’ given.

From then on, it is either no response or mobile is switched off

‘LADIES NEED NOT PAY’
If it is a woman who calls to know the details, the response is totally different. One girl, ‘Gowri’, who picked up the phone, says: “I am also an agent and can answer your queries. A woman looking for fun is welcome to become a member. She doesn’t even need to pay.

“The number of registered women is passed on to male members and the first meeting could be at a public place,’ she says.

‘Members’ cannot meet the ‘agents’ and the office address is not disclosed. Gowri reassures that “women need not be scared”.