Banking scam busted in Delhi

NEW DELHI: Delhi Police have blown the lid off a banking scam in the city in which former and serving bank agents duped customers to open accounts in several banks and diverted the amounts to their own accounts.

The fraudsters appointed telecallers who talked to customers they picked from bank databases, especially those who rarely visited banks and weren’t very conversant with procedures.

They sweet talked customers luring them with offers of high interests, free credit card and attractive benefits.
Once the customer showed interest, a gang member visited him with genuine account opening papers. Then the gang played their trick. They asked the customers not to pay through account payee cheques. Instead, these were to be drawn in favour of the bank where the account was being opened.

Once the fraudsters were in possession of cheques, they deposited them in dud accounts. The gang had opened accounts in different banks bypassing mandatory checks with fake PAN cards without statutory reference checks. The gullible customer lost his money.

The city police have been tracking these scamsters over the past six months and arrests have been happening since November. Investigators say the scam would be worth upwards of Rs 15 lakh. “Several new cases are coming to light everyday and this is looking very serious,” a police officer said.

“The fraudsters contacted customers claiming they were presenting them with a rare opportunity to open accounts at steep interest rates. These were privileges being extended to customers classified as ‘platinum members,’’ DCP (southeast) OP Mishra said.

Sohail Soni, 20, a UP resident, and Rinku, a former Citi Financial loan agent, were the brains behind the scam. Both have been arrested. Two other gang members – Sonu Sachdeva and Vikas – are behind bars.

Soni, a graduate, was “a master forger, he got fake IDs made and had cellphone connections which he used to call his victims. He arranged telesales executives – mostly girls – who used his name as a high ranking bank official to win the trust of the victims. Later, he got in touch with customers and explained the benefits of investing in a bank. He kept 30% of the booty for himself,’’ Mishra said.

The scam came to light when police received a complaint from one Man Mohan Singh Rana, a Sriniwas Puri resident. “Rana said he had received a call from a girl called Simran from cell number 9540378669. She said she was representing the savings account opening department of ING Vyasya Bank. Later, another man who introduced himself as Subhash came to Rana’s home posing as a bank sales executive. He helped Rana fill up an account opening form and took a cheque. Subhash assured that a credit card, cheque book would be delivered within 15 days. When these did not come, Rana found that the payment had been credited to fake account.