Car loan fraud: Case against bank official for duping businessman

When he bought his first car, a BMW M2 Competition, the Palarivattom branch of the private bank offered a vehicle loan with a 7% interest rate.
Image used for representational purpose only.
Image used for representational purpose only.

KOCHI: Police have registered a case against a bank official and an agent for allegedly duping a Kochi-based businessman by increasing the interest on a vehicle loan and taking an additional car insurance over the existing policy without his knowledge.

The case was registered against private bank employee Sumesh and car agent Antony based on the complaint of Jose Sebastian, the owner of Jose Electricals at MG Road. According to Jose, this was the second time that the interest on his vehicle loan was increased without his approval.

When he bought his first car, a BMW M2 Competition, the Palarivattom branch of the private bank offered a vehicle loan with a 7% interest rate. “But without informing me, the rate was later increased to 12%. In 2020, I bought another car - BMW X5 MSport. The same branch offered me a loan at 7.5% interest. This time again, the rate was hiked without my knowledge to 12%,” he said.

“Following this, I closed the loan of the first car. Now, I will have to pay over `12 lakh due to the hike in the interest rate for the second car,” he said. That was not all. He was also duped over the vehicle insurance for his second car. “I had taken insurance for my second car in 2020 for which the premium came to around `80,000. Last year, I changed car ownership from my name to my firm’s name.

The insurance was to expire on December 31. While taking quotes from various insurance companies, I came to know that a second policy had been taken for the same car without my knowledge. The additional cover was taken for `1.87 lakh and the amount was added to the existing car loan,” he said.

Jose later found out that the bank official left his previous job and had joined another bank. The second accused in the case in the car agent, who Jose said, was working for the bank official. “I suspect the duo might have cheated many more unsuspecting people,” he said. The Ernakulam Central Police station registered the case on January 5 for cheating.

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