Couple ‘seek help’ from senior citizen at a bank, dupes him of ₹60,000

MUMBAI: The Goregaon police are tracing an unidentified couple who allegedly cheated a senior citizen of ₹60,000 by pretending to seek his help at a bank

MUMBAI: The Goregaon police are tracing an unidentified couple who allegedly cheated a senior citizen of ₹60,000 by pretending to seek his help at a bank.

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According to the Goregaon police, the elderly man identified as Mangalprasad Yadav (68), owns a shop near his residence in Prem Nagar, Goregaon West. On Tuesday, when Yadav was walking towards a bank to deposit ₹60,000, he was intercepted by a couple, a man and a woman, outside the bank.

The man, who introduced himself as Amin Kumar, told Yadav that he too stayed in Prem Nagar and had seen him several times. When Yadav asked what the two were doing outside the bank, Kumar told him that he had ₹3.50 lakh with him and wanted to deposit the amount but did not know how to fill the deposit slip.

Kumar them requested Yadav to handover his ₹60,000 and deposit his ₹3.50 lakh in his (Yadav’s) bank account and later transfer the balance amount online.

Kumar told him that he wanted to urgently deposit the cash in his bank account to repay a loan he had taken for his wedding. When Yadav refused, Kumar offered him a commission of ₹10,000 from the amount. Yadav agreed to this and handed over his ₹60,000 and took Kumar’s bag, which purportedly contained the cash of ₹3.50 lakh.

“The couple left Yadav outside the bank after they decided to meet at a restaurant in Prem Nagar subsequently,” said an officer from the Goregaon police station. “However, when Yadav reached the teller in the bank and opened the bag, he found pieces of paper roughly the size of currency notes, instead of ₹3.50 lakh,” said the officer.

Yadav then realised that he had been cheated. “We have registered a complaint and are trying to trace the couple through footages of CCTV cameras. We are also finding out whether the couple have targeted others using the same modus operandi,” added the officer.