CHENNAI: The Anti Bank Fraud Wing of the Central Crime Branch (CCB) busted a racket based in Delhi, which swindled money from people who were looking for quick online loans. Police said that the gang had conned hundreds of people from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.
The gang had lured Chennai-based victims under the names of ‘Tamilar Finance’, ‘Varalakshmi Finance’ and ‘Bajaj Finance’.
Speaking about the modus operandi, a senior police officer said the gang would contact people randomly through mobile phones and introduce themselves as representatives from leading finance firms.
“The fraudsters would inform the targeted victim that he was eligible for a special loan offer and they would promise to provide loans with very low interest rates and bypass critical paperwork. If the victim agreed to avail the loan, the call would be passed to a person called as 'master' who would deal further,” said the police officer.
The gang would receive all copies of documents over WhatsApp or email. They would send an application form to be filled and later send a soft copy of the fake loan approval letter.
The fraudsters would then ask the victims to send some money to a particular bank account claiming to charge for documents and verification or as refundable security amount, processing fees and so on. They would switch off their mobile phones after collecting the money.
Recently, the CCB team registered a case based on a complaint from Kanakalakshmi, Pallikaranai who lost Rs. 82,000 to the fraudsters. Soon many similar complaints on loan offer fraud were reported to the police and the Chennai City Police Commissioner Shankar Jiwal ordered the formation of a special team of police personnel to trace the culprits.
The special team headed by Assistant Commissioner of Police S Prabakaran and Inspector R Pushparaj of the Anti Bank Fraud Wing scrutinised the call records and confirmed that the culprits were operating from another state.
“After analysing calls, we zeroed in on the whereabouts of the accused in Delhi. The special team was camping in Delhi for the last 10 days and searched in Dabri, Virender Nagar and other surrounding areas,” said the senior police officer.
Subsequently, the four accused M Ashok Kumar, 28, A Kamatchi, 30, D Rajavel, 25, and Abhishek Pal, 24, were arrested. Mobile phones, SIM cards, records relating to bank transactions and other documents were seized by police. They were produced before a court in the Dwarka Court Complex and brought to Chennai after a transit remand was obtained.
The senior police officer also added that the Delhi based gang procured SIM cards through agents from daily wage labourers at the liquor shops and platform dwellers for Rs 500 to Rs 1000 per piece for the purpose of calling the victims. They also had obtained bank accounts, cheque books, credit/debit cards and SIM cards in the name of shelterless persons for Rs 25,000, which would be used for bank transactions by the accused. The persons who sold off such details did not know who would be operating their bank accounts, added the police.
The Chennai police have appealed to the public not to believe unknown persons calling over mobile phones and offering quick loans and not to send any money to strangers who offer to increase reward points, validity of ATM cards or to renew the card or increase the credit limit.