The financial scrutiny revealed that there are transactions of more than Rs. 40 crores in the alleged accounts and more than 100 victims have been duped by the syndicate

Photo Credit : Delhi Police,

New Delhi, April 25

The Delhi Police IFSO Unit busted a gang from Begusarai involved in cheating citizens in well oiled fake insurance schemes of well-known companies. 

The accused have been identified as Dinesh Kumar Das, Birendra Kumar, Bablu Malakar, Roshan Kumar, Pawan Kumar and Mithilesh Kumar, all residents of Begusarai, Bihar. 

The IFSO Unit of Special Cell has busted an inter-state racket of fraudsters who used to cheat innocent people on the pretext of selling fake insurance policies of renowned companies and also on the false promise of getting back the money in their lapsed/stuck insurance policies. 

The IFSO received a complaint from GS Rai stating that an unknown group of people had cheated him to the tune of Rs 2.80 crores over the period of 7-8 yrs on the pretext of insurance policies. Later, two more victims, who suffered loss of Rs. 85 Lakhs and Rs. 19 Lakhs respectively on account of a similar modus operandi filed a complaint. 

During exhaustive exercise of identifying the money trail through beneficiary bank accounts, it was established that about 35 bank accounts were used to dupe the complainant. During the analysis of money trail and the electronic records, it was found that the racket is spread across many states and is being operated in many tiers. The financial scrutiny revealed that there are transactions of more than Rs. 40 crores in the alleged accounts and more than 100 victims have been duped by the syndicate. 

It was noticed that the accused persons had used several/multiple bank accounts for receiving money and money laundering. Through the extensive financial trail and technical analysis, the accused persons were found to be operating from the area of Begusarai, Bihar. 

DCP IFSO Prashant Gautam stated that Pawan Kumar and he would provide bank accounts to the co-accused Shyam Sundar. Pawan Kumar would receive the cheated money in cash. 

The police teams conducted raids at Pawan Kumar’s native place Dhabauli, Begusarai, Bihar, where he was running Customer Service Point (CSP) of Bank of Baroda. At his instance, 1091 Bank of Baroda ATM Cards, 22 Fino Bank Instant Debit Cards, 56 blank passbooks of Bank of Baroda, 58 Bank of Baroda passbooks of other accounts holders, one PNB passbook, one blank passbook of HDFC Bank, one United Bank of India passbook of co-accused Roshan Kumar, were recovered from his rented premises. He was using these ATM cards in rotation for withdrawal of cheated money. 

The officials further said that during interrogation, they disclosed that they would provide their bank accounts to Pawan Kumar on commission basis. They also disclosed that they would operate in tiers and usually avoid meeting with other syndicate members. They would procure fake accounts for receiving the money and further rotation of money. The accused persons have confessed to dupe more than 100 persons to the tune of more than Rs 40 Crores. Five such complainants, who have been duped by these accused persons, have been identified so far. 

The police have seized six mobile phones linked with different bank accounts, 1091 Bank of Baroda ATM cards, 22 Fino Bank Instant Debit Cards, 56 Blank passbooks of Bank of Baroda, 58 Bank of Baroda passbooks of other accounts holders,  One PNB passbook, One blank passbook of HDFC Bank and One United Bank of India passbook of accused Roshan Kumar.

This is a multiple tier racket operating from distant locations in the country.

First Tier- It provides data of insurance policies along with customer details to the accused persons. Two such suspects have been arrested and presently are running in Judicial Custody.

Second Tier- It provides fake bank accounts and SIM cards to the accused persons. 

Third tier- It provides training and technical expertise to deal with the customers showing interest. Three such companies have been figured out and their antecedents are being verified.

Fourth Tier- The accused persons start calling the customers on the basis of data they had procured and induce them to credit their money in fake account provided to them. 

ADVISORY

It is easy for fraudsters and cheats to take fake and bogus identities on social media and other online platforms. While law enforcement agencies and online platforms work against such fraudsters, it is advised that common people also apply due caution while interacting with someone whom they only know through online portals and other forums including websites, instant messaging Apps, emails, etc. It is important to verify the identity of such virtual friends through multiple means before engaging with them. Transfer of money and other actions such as sending private details etc. should be strictly avoided.