Several women protested outside the Karachi city court on February 15, Tuesday, against an online seller named Rida Tabassum, who is accused of swindling over Rs10 million from at least 41 women across the country. “Return our money and arrest Rida Tabassum,” the women chanted.

Rida Tabassum runs an online branded dress business named H.M. Collection that has sold branded clothes for low prices since 2020. She filed a petition of harassment in the district court against at least 41 of her customers, claiming that they were harassing her because they owe her money, but they claim they gave her money.

“Social media platforms like WhatsApp, YouTube and Facebook are full of proof about who the real victims of this fraud are,” their lawyer Javed Chittari said.

In response to the petition in the session court, the women stated that Rida Tabassum failed to deliver a stock of dresses and payments on time.

She has filed a civil suit of harassment against them for asking for payments instead of paying them their dues, the women added.

“I gave Tabassum an advance payment in December 2022 for a fresh stock of branded dresses due to arrive in January 2023, but she did not complete the order,” said a protestor, who was holding a poster with the words “Need help and support”.

Chittari said that Rida Tabassum had defrauded a number of women in different cities, including, Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore, Quetta, Multan, and Hyderabad. He said that she owed several women different amounts, ranging from Rs1 million to Rs5.7 million, adding to up to over ten million rupees.

Chittari added that they are submitting applications in several police stations across these cities.

Chittari told the media that some police personnel are supporting Rida and her accomplices. “We have contacted the Inspector General of Sindh to initiate a departmental inquiry against the officers involved,” he said.

He added that he plans to submit a list of police personnel who are calling the women and their family members and telling them to back off from going to court and claiming that the women will receive their money.

Rida’s side of the story

Rida Tabbasum’s petition, a copy of which is available with Aaj News, claimed that many people became jealous of her since she expanded her business. She added that the first two of the 41 defendants listed in the petition were ‘threating’ her and have been ‘spreading propaganda’.

According to the petition, defendants 1 and 2, who seem to be a mother and son duo, posted a defamatory statement about Rida on WhatsApp on January 22, 2023 and claimed that she was a fraud, which led to the rest of her customers believing they had been deceived.

A day after the defamatory statement was posted, nine to ten people broke into her house and harrassed her. They stole a phone and cash from her bag, the petition stated. Rida claimed that the attackers were sent by defendants 1 and 2 and that the other defendants were also threatening her due to this.

The same people maltreated her uncle the next day, when she and him reached the police station. She said that 150 people, including the defendants, were gathered on the instigation of defendants 1 and 2. Police left them with the assurance that Rida would pay the whole amount back to the defendants in two and a half months.

She said that she received two threating calls, one from a person who claimed to be from Zardari House and the other from an FIA inspector (who is listed as a defendant in the petition).

The petition states that all defendants are harassing and blackmailing Rida using different numbers on defendant 1 and 2’s instigation.

She claimed that one of the defendants snatched clothing stock worth Rs1,050,000 from Rida’s delivery rider and still has it in her possession. She said that two other defendants took stock worth Rs300,000 by force.

The petition concluded that the defendants should be restrained to protect Rida from further harassment.