CHENNAI: Appearances can be deceiving. Some banks in the city learnt this in a hard way after a three-member gang tricked the officials into sanctioning luxury-car loans by faking themselves as rich bungalow owners on ECR. The incident came to light after the trio who cheated the banks to the tune of Rs 3.86 crore was nabbed by the Central Crime Branch.
It is learnt that the gang approached the banks through brokers from Ernakulam, Goa and Thanjavur. They hired bungalows on ECR and prepared fake documents to show they owned the buildings. “They also hired a few luxury cars to park in front of the houses to convince the bank officials that they were rich,” added police.
The police said the trio cheated the banks in two ways – one by availing the loan amount themselves with the help of brokers instead of connecting the bank officials with the car showrooms and secondly, having an under-the-table deal with the car showrooms that they can have 20-80 share of the loan sum without purchasing any car.
The CCB officials said that the staff of a few car showrooms are also accomplices in the case and they will be arrested soon. The Bank of India branch in Nungambakkam, Vijaya Bank in Egmore, Punjab National Bank in Thiruvanmiyur, UCO Bank in Adyar and the Indian Overseas Bank in Alwarpet are some of the banks which the trio have cheated.
The accused were identified as D Mohammed Musamil (34) and T Ayyadurai (32), both from Neelankarai, and B Bala Vijay (35) of Kodambakkam. Luxury cars such as Ford Mustang, Wrangler Jeep, Audi A4 and BMW were also seized.
After the trio had failed to repay the loan for over two years, the banks lodged a complaint with the CCB. All three were remanded in judicial custody. “Banks granting loans without doing a thorough background check of customers, who approach them through brokers, lead to such frauds,” said a police officer.