Gurugram: Kingpin of gang that duped over 100 people on pretext of selling insurance policies arrested

The police on Sunday said they busted a gang of three persons for allegedly duping over 100 people of more than ₹2 crore on the pretext of selling life insurance

The police on Sunday said they busted a gang of three persons for allegedly duping over 100 people of more than ₹2 crore on the pretext of selling life insurance policies. The police said that they have arrested the “mastermind” of the gang and two suspects are on the run.

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The police recovered a mobile phone and three registers, three passbooks and ₹22,500 cash from one of the suspect’s possession. The arrested suspects has been identified as Dharmesh Thakur ,38, from Badarpur in Delhi. The two other suspects, who are on the run, were identified as Aakash Verma of Ghaziabad and, Deepak Sharma of Gautampuri in Delhi. The police said that all three suspects are class 10 dropouts.

The police said the gang used to operate from different locations and often work from a moving car to evade being identified.

The police said Thakur was the mastermind of the gang. He had allegedly started duping people in 2018 after getting inspired from movies. He analysed a lot of fraud cases of insurance companies to figure out ways how to dupe people following which he formed the gang and involved his two friends who had an experience of working in call centres, the police said.

After detailed investigation, a case was registered ay cyber crime police station under sections 420 (fraud) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 66D of Information Technology Act on April 30 this year and a probe was initiated in to the matter, said the police.

KK Rao, commissioner of police, said a team from cyber police station tracked the location and Thakur’s movement and arrested him from Faridabad on Friday night. “During questioning, he confessed to the crime and revealed that he had formed a gang with his two friends and used to run a small-time call centre to dupe people,” he said.

Rao said the suspects used to make calls using data they had bought through an executive working in a call centre in Delhi. “They used to send a link on people’s mobile phone and email id after luring them with heavy discounts of premiums of life insurance and cashback schemes. They used to get the money transferred through e-walltets and used to keep changing locations to evade arrest,” he said. The suspects used to pose as officers from financial service firms, seeking takes and payments under various heads.

Rao said as per their records, the suspects have duped more than 100 people of over ₹2 crore, but exact details are yet to be ascertained.

The suspects, the police said, even underwent a voice and ascent training from BPO trainers so that they could gain their victims’ trust.

“During the probe, the police team took details from banks and the details of their phone numbers through which the calls were made. The suspects used to switch off their mobile phones after making the calls used the same mobile numbers every day. The team reached the Thkaur’s location in Faridabad using technical surveillance Friday late night,” he said.