Currency exchange fraud: Instead of US dollars, man receives bundles of paper; con man flees with ₹1L cash

Police in Mumbai are searching for fraudsters who duped residents by promising to exchange US dollars at cheaper rates, giving them bundles of paper instead.

MUMBAI: The police have launched a manhunt for a person who duped a Kandivali resident of ₹1 lakh on the pretext of selling him US dollars at cheaper rates and gave him bundles of paper instead. In a similar case, another person was duped of ₹50,000 in Kanjurmarg by frauds. Currently, the market price of 1 US dollar is ₹84.

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According to the police, the accused, identified as Aman, approached Ajay Yadav, 47, a paan shop owner in Kandivali East. Aman said his aunt, who worked in the US, had brought 1,196.96 US dollars ( ₹1 lakh) with her and wanted Indian currency, however, he said, since she was not from the city, she could not get the dollars exchanged.

Aman then convinced Yadav to arrange ₹1 lakh promising him dollars in return. He told him that after collecting the dollars, he could exchange the same at market price from any jeweller or from forex traders and could earn huge profits, said a police officer.

Yadav said that he started trusting Aman because every evening he used to visit his shop between 8.00 and 8.30 pm to smoke. He claimed that he was into mango trading. Aman also showed Yadav the US dollars on his phone and told him that his aunt had lots of such notes. Aman then brought US dollar notes and showed them Yadav on May 22 and said the person who had an Aadhar card registered in Mumbai and a local address can exchange it with forex traders.

Before Yadav could open and verify the dollars, Aman and his associate left the place without letting them know. When Yadav opened the bundle he found only pieces of paper, said Joshi. Yadav then approached the Mulund police station where an FIR was registered against the fraud.

In a similar incident, Vijay Kumar Nirmal, 46, a resident of Nerul and his son Vansh, who run a sugarcane juice shop in Kanjur Marg West, were duped by a 24-year-old man and a woman aged around 50 years of ₹50,000 under the guise of exchanging foreign currency. The Park Site police have registered an FIR in connection with the incident.