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2 arrested in Delhi for cheating Faridabad resident of ₹2.48 crore
The suspects had bought a database of at least 2,000 people who had bought insurance policies and cheated over 300 people across the country
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Two men were arrested in Delhi for cheating a Faridabad resident of ₹2.48 crore on the pretext of renewing his lapsed insurance policies, police officers aware of the matter said on Tuesday.
According to investigators, the suspects had bought a database of at least 2,000 people who had bought insurance policies. They had been operating a call centre for the past 18 months through which they sold insurance policies and had cheated more than 300 people across the country.
They used to charge people various fees such as GST, IT charge, National Securities Depositories Ltd (NSDL) charges, demand draft clearance, and security deposit on the pretext of providing full returns/benefits on the maturity of insurance policies in case of lapse. They used to charge people for services for stamp duty, RBI charges, and indemnity bonds, among others.
They were identified as Animesh Singh, 30, and Abhishek Kumar, 32, of Jyoti Nagar in Delhi. Kumar is a commerce graduate, and Singh studied till class 10. Both are cousins.
Rakesh Kumar Arya, commissioner of the Faridabad police, said they have identified at least 103 complaints from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, among other states, against the two for cheating people on the pretext of insurance lapse fraud. “We have collected data from other states and have analysed bank transactions, which showed that the suspects cheated people of more than ₹5 crore. They had a staff of ten people who made calls, created bank accounts with forged documentation, withdrew cash,” he said.
After taking the two suspects on remand for questioning, the police recovered 23 mobile phones and ₹1.81 crore from them.
According to the police, they got on track of the suspects after they received a complaint from a Faridabad resident on September 26 of this year. The complainant said he had lost ₹2.48 crore between August and September to the suspects.
The suspects told the complainant that they had received a complaint that he had not paid the premium on his life insurance policies since the Covid-19 outbreak. “They told the complainant that he would get the full return of his lapsed insurance policy before the maturity date — all he had to do was open an FDR account and deposit money,” said Arya.
The complainant was told he would get a refund along with interest, but he was duped, said investigators.
The police said they analysed the bank accounts in which the complainant deposited the money and the phone numbers from which the complainant received calls from suspects, who posed as government officials such as income tax officers.
The suspects were arrested from their call centre in Laxmi Nagar in Delhi while they were making calls to other people in different states, said investigators.
The suspects were granted conditional bail and sent to 14 days’ judicial custody on Tuesday, said officers. The suspects could not be contacted since their mobile numbers were switched off.
The commissioner of police said victims of cyber fraud should immediately report it to take advantage of the Golden Hour, which is the first two hours after the crime is committed. After that, it becomes harder to trace the criminals.
