NEW DELHI: Luring innocent people to deposit money into fake bank accounts has been an time-tested trick used by fraudsters. However, it still seems to work and people do fall prey to these innovative methods used by cheats.
Delhi Police have arrested four men for opening more than 50 fake bank accounts and luring unsuspecting people into depositing their money in these accounts.
The accused were identified as Rafiq Khan (24), Shahid Khan (21), Israil Khan alias Guddu (31) and Shahid Raza Khan (25), all of whom are residents of Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, police said on Saturday.
Personnel from Sarita Vihar police station in South East Delhi have recovered cash worth Rs 1.22 lakh, 53 ATM cards, 58 cheque books and 40 passbooks of major banks, 18 Aadhaar cards, 22 PAN cards, three election I-cards, a rubber stamp and 15 mobile phones.
On December 12, 2017, a tip was received at Sarita Vihar police station about a gang of cheats involved in opening fake bank accounts, on the basis of fake I-cards and cheating people by inducing them to deposit money on the pretext of having won lottery, prizes etc.
The police team had apprehended one Sameer Hussain, belonging to Bareilly, from outside an Axis Bank branch at Pocket-1, Jasola Vihar, whose information led to more arrests.
"All accused worked in small-scale embroidery factories in Bareilly, Jaipur and Delhi. Accused Rafiq Khan had met Asif Khan, who is a member of Sameer Hussain's gang and had been arrested in 2017, in Bareilly. Asif told Rafiq about the operation of his gang and how they dupeed innocent people with the help of foreign handlers," DCP South East Chinmoy Biswal said on Saturday.
"Rafiq was fascinated by this and he teamed up with Sameer Hussain's gang. He learnt to prepare forged Aadhaar cards, voter I-cards and PAN cards. On the basis of these forged documents, he used to open several bank accounts. Rafiq had maintained contacts with foreign handlers, who allured innocent people to deposit money into these accounts," Biswal added.