Heritage Medical collected ₹5.2L for Australia placement, disappeared after full payment

My wife is a registered nurse and we approached Heritage Medical Consultants in November 2022 specifically for Australia AHPRA registration and skilled visa support. They presented a detailed process document and a signed service agreement promising AHPRA registration guidance, skills assessment, visa application support, and hospital placement in Melbourne. Total quoted fee: ₹4.5L. We eventually paid ₹5.2L after several "additional service" add-ons they introduced over the year. For the first 4 months there was some activity — they collected documents, conducted a few orientation calls, sent a checklist. After that, progress stopped. We kept receiving reassurances that "the AHPRA application has been submitted" but when my wife tried to track the AHPRA application directly on the AHPRA website, no application existed under her name. We escalated multiple times. Each time we were told there was a "processing delay." By month 10, the original contact person was gone. By month 12, the agency was not responding to calls or emails. We visited the office — it was closed. We filed complaints with the Consumer Forum Ernakulam and the police. We are also in contact with 4 other nurses who have similar stories about this agency.