Fake loan racket busted in city, 7 arrested

Chennai

The gang exploited the uncertainty among people during the lockdown and swindled money on the promise of offering loans at cheaper rates while selling them insurance products. The accused used the names of popular private insurance firms to cheat the victims, said an officer who was part of the team that nabbed the accused.

After several complaints of people losing money to fraudsters, a case was registered. The investigation by the bank fraud prevention wing led to the arrest of R Thyagarajan (38) of Salem, V Gopinath (28) of Saidapet and R Manibala (22) of Villupuram, who were running call centres in Tiruvanmiyur and Perungudi, and employed a few girls to make calls to gullible people. Four more accused were arrested on Saturday after they were found to be part of the gang. They were identified as A Javid (35), M Mohammad Shakir Khan (35), M Rajkumar (46) and R GokulaKrishnan (35).

Explaining the modus operandi, inspector Pushparaj said, “The gang worked like agents of private insurance firms to find clients on commission basis. However, they promised the victims of arranging loans from the insurance firms. They received personal documents of customers to make them believe that they were processing loan applications. The fraudsters would call again claiming that they would ensure the loan and ask them to deposit money using the link they send via SMS. After receiving the money, they would discontinue the communication.”

The official added that insurance companies were not aware of the gang’s activities. Among the accused, Thyagarajan is a friend of one Selva alias Selvakumar, who was arrested a few months ago for running a call centre in Anna Salai for a similar offence.

Computers, laptops and phones were seized from the call centres and all three accused were remanded in judicial custody.

So far this year, the bank fraud wing received 365 similar complaints and 36 accused have been arrested. The money lost by the victims is estimated at Rs 1.6 crore.