Gang offers fake bank franchises, dupes over hundred of lakhs
TNN | Updated: Apr 17, 2019, 05:50 IST
Representative imageNEW DELHI: The police have busted a gang for allegedly duping people on the pretext of providing a kiosk banking franchise under the “e-gov project” of the central government. One of the kingpins of the gang has been arrested, while hunt is on for others.
The arrested man has been identified as Sunny Shankar (24), who belongs to Navada in Bihar. Cops are looking for men under the assumed identities of Pramod and Srikant, an officer said. The gang has supposedly targeted over 100 people using this modus operandi. Shankar’s phone and SIM card is being analyzed and probe is ongoing about how the gang obtained and used multiple SIM cards to execute their cons.
Police said the gang had made a fake website in the name of cspbankmirta.in. Once a person filled up the form and submitted his details, he was contacted over the phone to ‘verify’ the details. An officer said that the gang members posed as government and bank representatives and offered customer service point (CSP) booths, which they said would be operated as banking partners.
They claimed that this outlet would be able to open bank accounts for people and carry out other banking-related tasks that would reduce load on the bank branches.
The accused also interviewed the applicants to make them think that they were going through a selection procedure. Once a victim made payments, the gang went off the radar.
The cops got hot on the trail of this gang after a youth from Mukherjee Nagar lodged a complaint about being cheated of around Rs 4.98 lakh. The victim was promised space for a kiosk and office furniture and apparatus, including web cams, computers and printers.
In his complaint, Karn Pratap Singh said that he belonged to Rajasthan but was staying in Mukherjee Nagar since three years to prepare for competitive exams. When he could not clear the exam, Singh started to look out for business opportunities. In this process, he came across this website and filled in his details in January this year.
He then received calls from a gang member, who made him transfer almost five lakh rupees over the course of three months. Realising something was amiss, Singh went to the Kolkata address of the firm mentioned on their website. He did not find any office there and then approached the police. DCP Vijaynta Arya then asked the Mukherjee Nagar police to initiate a probe.
The arrested man has been identified as Sunny Shankar (24), who belongs to Navada in Bihar. Cops are looking for men under the assumed identities of Pramod and Srikant, an officer said. The gang has supposedly targeted over 100 people using this modus operandi. Shankar’s phone and SIM card is being analyzed and probe is ongoing about how the gang obtained and used multiple SIM cards to execute their cons.
Police said the gang had made a fake website in the name of cspbankmirta.in. Once a person filled up the form and submitted his details, he was contacted over the phone to ‘verify’ the details. An officer said that the gang members posed as government and bank representatives and offered customer service point (CSP) booths, which they said would be operated as banking partners.
They claimed that this outlet would be able to open bank accounts for people and carry out other banking-related tasks that would reduce load on the bank branches.
The accused also interviewed the applicants to make them think that they were going through a selection procedure. Once a victim made payments, the gang went off the radar.
The cops got hot on the trail of this gang after a youth from Mukherjee Nagar lodged a complaint about being cheated of around Rs 4.98 lakh. The victim was promised space for a kiosk and office furniture and apparatus, including web cams, computers and printers.
In his complaint, Karn Pratap Singh said that he belonged to Rajasthan but was staying in Mukherjee Nagar since three years to prepare for competitive exams. When he could not clear the exam, Singh started to look out for business opportunities. In this process, he came across this website and filled in his details in January this year.
He then received calls from a gang member, who made him transfer almost five lakh rupees over the course of three months. Realising something was amiss, Singh went to the Kolkata address of the firm mentioned on their website. He did not find any office there and then approached the police. DCP Vijaynta Arya then asked the Mukherjee Nagar police to initiate a probe.
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