Man loses Rs 14 lakh to fraudsters offering Rs 50 lakh loan on low-interest rate

New Delhi: The Delhi Police has busted a gang that operated under the disguise of an insurance firm at a Noida-based call centre and cheated loan seekers by offering them low-interest rates against the newly purchased insurance police, police said on Friday. Three accused, identified as Mohit Sharma (31), Prem Singh (33), and Mohd. Faisal (37), was tracked on the basis of technical investigation including a money trail of the amount they got transferred by the victim on the pretext of processing fees and various other charges.

Subsequently, they were arrested in connection with the fraud, police said. The accused lured victims with low-interest rate loan offer against the newly purchased insurance policy which was also sold by them to the victims, they said.

The matter came to light after one of the victims alleged that he has duped of Rs 14 lakh by the accused using the same modus operandi. However, the promised Rs 50 lakh loan was not disbursed to the complainant, police said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Sagar Singh Kalsi said that during the investigation, one team was deployed for the money trail while another was tasked to conduct technical investigation through available mobile numbers.

The location of the accused was tracked down to Ghaziabad, Faridabad, and Northeast Delhi, he said. Subsequently, raids were conducted in Delhi and NCR on Monday, and the accused -- Mohit Sharma -- was arrested from his hideout. A car, laptop, mobile phones, various passbooks, cheque books, and debit cards were recovered on his instance, the DCP added.

He further led the team to his associate Prem Singh in Faridabad and another raid was conducted in Noida on Tuesday and the prime accused, Md. Faisal was arrested, police said. "During interrogation, accused Md. Faisal revealed that he along with Sharma had been working at an established call centre in Noida which offered insurance policies for various big insurance companies.

On analysis of mobile phones of the accused, it was revealed that tele-callers were also making calls through keypad mobile phones besides fixed calling lines to make fraud calls and trap the victims," the DCP said. Subsequently, the police team reached the call centre and seized 170 mobile phones from the lockers and other hidden places. Some registers and other incriminating documents suspected to have records of victims were also recovered, police said.

The data of recovered phones are being analysed and floor managers and owners of the call centre are being investigated so as to find their role in the offence, they added.