Mother-son duo held for duping shopkeepers in Lucknow
Lucknow police arrested a mother-son duo for cheating shopkeepers by exchanging fake foreign currency for cash. They scammed a businessman of ₹3 lakh.
Lucknow police on Thursday arrested a mother-son duo who used to cheat people by luring them into exchanging foreign currency (dirhams) at low prices.
“The accused used to place some dirhams on the top and bottom of the bundle of notes and put waste paper of the size of the notes in between. The police team is gathering information about other members of their gang,” said DCP Central Raveena Tyagi.
“Madehganj police team have arrested the Aslam, 24, and his mother Farzana Begum alias Kajal Sheikh, 44, originally from New Delhi who used to live in a rented accommodation in the Nishatganj area. They used to roam around the city on a scooter and look for victims and would mostly target shopkeepers,” said the DCP.
Police said that the accused used to first gain the trust of shopkeepers by showing them 100 dirhams. Then, they used to cheat them by luring them to give dirhams at a low price.
On November 28, the duo took ₹3 lakh from Aliganj businessman Abdul Hasan and handed him a bag full of newspapers, which contained only 700 Dirhams.
“They went to Abdul Hasan’s shop on a scooter. After buying some goods, they talked to the shopkeeper to gain his trust and gave him a note of 100 Dirham. They said that the family situation is not good and they have some Dirhams that they can give at a lower price. After this, the shopkeeper agreed to take Dirhams worth ₹three lakh on trust. The accused fraudulently gave him paper notes by pasting real Dirhams on the top and bottom. Similarly, on November 21, they cheated one Prem Prakash Saxena, a resident of Naubasta Khurd, of ₹30,000,” added police.