Two men arrested in Trichy for running fake detective agencies and cheating people

TRICHY: The cybercrime unit of the Trichy district police on Monday arrested two engineering graduates for running fake detective agencies and cheating people of money on the promise of gathering secret information for matrimonial and other needs.
The arrested men have been identified as Sathishkumar, 31 and Vasanth, 24, of Kallakurichi district.
The complaint from a Musiri-based man exposed the duo. The man decided to employ a detective agency to verify the movements of his sister-in-law due to some family issues. A detective agency run by the duo showed up in an online search.
The man contacted the agency over the phone and inquired about its services. As the duo assured him that they would get all the required details, he made online payment without verifying other details about the agency.
But there was no information from the duo after several days passed. When he checked with the duo, there was no proper reply. So, he lodged a complaint with the police and got a case registered.
Inquiries by cybercrime station inspector of police S Anbuchelvan and his team revealed that the duo were running a few fake detective agencies.
Inspector Anbuchelvan said that the duo, who had worked with a detective agency in Puducherry a few years ago, had no proper licence from the government to run a detective agency. They advertised through Google Business and got their clients.
The duo, who are staying in Maathur area on the Trichy – Pudukkottai border, advertised online in various names in Trichy, Madurai, Coimbatore and Salem.
They were into the business for the past six months. Most of their clients wanted to verify the personal backgrounds, contacts, habits of the brides and bridegrooms. In most of the cases, the duo didn’t provide information to the clients as promised.
“A few people from the US and Australia too contacted them over the phone and paid for verifying the details of somebody else. Their charges are ranging from Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000. In some cases, they gave some information to the client,” said Anbuchelvan. The fake agency had assured the clients that it would get them the call detail record of people but they were unable to do that.
Police said the duo had cheated around 20 people in Trichy.
Trichy district superintendent of police Sujithkumar advised the people to not fall prey to such fake detective agencies. He said that people should check the credibility of an agency by verifying its licences and other details.