3 arrested for duping people on pretext of arranging loans

Three men were arrested for allegedly duping people of lakhs of rupees on the pretext of arranging loans for them on the minimum interest rate, police said Sunday.

The accused were identified as Ashraf Khan, a resident of Jamia Nagar, Delhi; Tasleem Ahmad, a resident of Gautam Budh Nagar, Uttar Pradesh; and Muzammil Khan, a resident of Bulandshahar in Uttar Pradesh, they said.

According to police, Meera Devi, a resident of Indra camp, Andrews Ganj, Delhi, registered a complaint at Defence Colony police station alleging that some unknown persons cheated her of Rs 22,000 on the pretext of arranging loan on a very low interest rate.

She said the accused had contacted her on mobile phone and also sent her fake loan sanction letter via messaging app WhatsApp, police said.

A case was registered and a police team formed.

The accused were found to be using SIM cards which were procured on fake documents. They were constantly changing their mobile handsets, SIM cards and their locations. However, they were arrested when they came to withdraw cash from an ATM, police said.

During interrogation, the accused disclosed that they had duped hundreds of people. They had also hired three girls as tele-callers and provided them mobile phones to deal with prospective loan applicants, said police.

The accused men first used to choose random mobile numbers and gave it to tele-callers. The tele-callers would contact the victims over the phone and assure them of providing easy loans on minimum interest rates. They would ask the victim to deposit some amount in a bank account as a processing fee for documentary formalities, police said.

Thereafter, they provided the victim different account numbers to deposit the amount. After getting the amount deposited in the given accounts, they sent fake loan sanction letter to the victims on WhatsApp or email. Later, after getting the money, the accused persons would change the mobile number, police added.

They used to prepare the forged loan approval letter, stamp etc from their laptop and printer. The account details were provided to this gang by one Prince, police said.

Ashraf Khan is the kingpin of the gang and he has done his graduation in BBA. After working for two years, he left the job and started his own business of CCTV marketing and installation where he failed and underwent financial crisis.

Thereafter, he formed a gang with his two relatives after getting an idea from a gang which cheated people on the pretext of providing jobs in various government departments, police said.

Two cars, Rs 3 lakh in cash, one laptop, six mobile phones, 24 SIM cards, several debit cards, letter heads and rubber stamps of various finance companies etc. were recovered from possession of the accused, they added.