'Sold my products, pocketed the money... Yeh chor hain, yeh jahan jaayenge wahan chori karenge': Actor-turned entrepreneur Parul Gulati says Bengaluru store staff scammed her of ₹8 lakh

Running a business is hard enough. But what happens when the people you trust to grow it are the ones accused of causing the biggest damage?That's the question actor and entrepreneur Parul Gulati is grappling with after alleging that two employees at her Bengaluru Nish Hair store duped her of more than ₹8 lakh through a months-long payment scam.The actor, who founded the hair extensions brand Nish Hair, took to Instagram with an emotional video detailing what she described as one of the toughest experiences of her entrepreneurial journey. She revealed that she had spent an entire day at a police station after uncovering what she believes was an organised fraud inside her own store.She summed up her feelings in the caption: "Bangalore, you did me dirty."According to Gulati, she had been sensing that something wasn't adding up for quite some time.

Inventory numbers weren't matching, and the store's financial records kept showing discrepancies. But despite repeated checks, she couldn't figure out where things were going wrong.Everything changed after she made an unannounced visit to the Bengaluru outlet."I was trying to figure out what was going wrong because I knew there was a discrepancy," she said in the video.She claimed that on the day she arrived for the surprise inspection, the sales executive, who also had access to the store's CCTV cameras, suddenly called in sick.

The store manager, however, was present.During questioning, Gulati alleged that the manager admitted to being behind the fraud.Recalling the conversation, she said he confessed that he waited for about a month after joining the company to understand how the business worked before beginning the alleged scam."All he said was, 'I started after one month of joining the job,'" she claimed.

According to Gulati, the alleged fraud followed a simple but damaging pattern.She said customers visiting the store would buy Nish Hair products worth anywhere between ₹15,000 and ₹20,000. Instead of asking them to pay the company, the employees allegedly directed customers to transfer the money into their own personal bank accounts."They sold my product, my packaging, through my name to the customer and then took the whole amount themselves. Toh unhone mujhse bhi churaya hai, aur customers se bhi," she said.Gulati believes the alleged scam continued for nearly six months. She added that while she currently has evidence covering that period, she fears it may have been happening even before that."I got scammed, and I have proof of only six months. I don't know what to do, but all I can do is request that these two never get hired," she wrote.She also claimed that the store manager admitted to misappropriating around ₹8 lakh."The guy has told me himself, 'I didn't do more than 8L,' and the girl is still on the run," Gulati alleged.The actor admitted she's not very hopeful about recovering the money.For her, the bigger concern is ensuring that the people she has accused don't get an opportunity to repeat the same thing elsewhere."I highly doubt if I will ever recover my money, but these two did me dirty, and they deserve to never get work anywhere," she said.Gulati also had a message for customers who had shopped at the Bengaluru outlet.She urged anyone who may have transferred money directly to an employee instead of the company's official account to double-check their payment records. She advised customers to always insist on a proper bill and verify that payments are being made to the company's official account.Towards the end of the video, the actor couldn't hide her disappointment."Yeh chor hain, yeh jahan jaayenge wahan chori karenge. Inme koi imaan nahi hai. Yeh ghatiya log hain, ghatiya," she said.Her video quickly gained traction online, with many entrepreneurs saying they could relate to the feeling of being betrayed by trusted employees.Actor and entrepreneur Zareen Khan was among those who offered support."This is really disheartening, @gulati06. I know all the blood, sweat n tears that go in building a brand and when such things happen, it shakes you to the core.

I really hope and pray things get sorted soon," she commented.Several business owners also shared similar stories from their own journeys.One user wrote, "You hire people with trust, and this is what they do to you. I'm really sorry to hear this, Parul. I hope this gets sorted."Another commented, "I have seen this happening, especially with the first staff you hire. Don't let them go without punishment."Someone else recalled facing a similar betrayal, writing, "Something similar happened to me two years back when my trusted vendor stole inventory worth ₹12 lakh.

I know exactly how heartbreaking this feels."For many people watching the video, the money wasn't the only thing that stood out.It was the sense of betrayal.Building a business takes years of effort, but sometimes all it takes is a few months of misplaced trust for everything to feel shaken. And judging by the reactions online, that's the part of Parul Gulati's story that resonated the most.