The gold was real. At least the first piece was.
That tiny sample was enough to convince a Kochi couple last year that they had stumbled upon a secret fortune.
The men sitting across them spoke of royal families, and a buried treasure discovered during an excavation. Their story sounded unbelievable, but the small piece of genuine gold made the impossible seem real.
Within days, the couple lost `6 lakh. As soon as they received the money, the men disappeared. This led to a nearly year-long hunt by the city police.
The fraud began with a casual meeting at a coffee shop near the Kaloor stadium. The accused befriended the victims — a woman working in the medical field and her husband — before introducing the story.
The duo claimed to have earlier worked for a royal family and came into possession of the treasure. They needed help selling it and were looking for someone reliable.
Then came the crucial detail: the gold sample. That lured the couple.
“Such scamsters do not directly ask for money. They first create an illusion of confidence and trust. They know that a person will not part with lakhs of rupees just because of a story. The sample is used to make the lie appear real,” says an officer familiar with the probe.
Once the couple was convinced, the accused played the urgency card. They claimed they needed money for a sister’s wedding and offered to hand over the gold if the couple paid an advance of `6 lakh. The balance, they said, could be paid after the sale.
The couple handed over the money near Kaloor stadium. The men vanished. Their phones were switched off.
Soon, the couple approached the Palarivattom police station. “They had no idea about the duo’s backgrounds. No address or identification details were available,” the officer recalls.
CCTV footage provided some clues, but the suspects proved difficult to track. They frequently changed mobile phones and locations, moving between states and leaving few traces.
“It was a challenging investigation. Every time we followed one lead, they would have already changed their location and phone numbers. But the team continued monitoring the case patiently,” the officer says.
“We analysed every available information, worked with cyber investigators and coordinated with teams outside Keralam. There were many dead ends. But we believed they would make a mistake at some point. The important thing was to keep following the trail.”
That tenacity paid off. The breakthrough eventually came with the help of the cyber cell, and the investigation team tracked the suspects to Kanyakumari.
“We cannot disclose the exact nature of the lead. The probe is still on, and similar gangs remain active. We do not want them to know what mistake — a small one — the accused made,” the officer smiles.
The two accused — Arjun, 30, and Vinod, 23, both from Mysuru — were eventually arrested by the Palarivattom police team in July.
Officers recovered fake gold allegedly used by the gang, along with mobile phones. They suspect the duo is part of an interstate gang that uses similar ‘treasure gold’ stories to target people across Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Keralam.
“This gang may have cheated several others using the same method, including victims in Wadakkanchery and Shoranur,” says an officer.
“Such cases are solved through patience. Criminals can change phones and hideouts, but they cannot erase every trace they leave behind.”
The case offers a glimpse into how scam gangs operate. Their real weapon is deception. And for the police, sometimes, it is patience.