Three held for cheating consumer finance firm of Rs 32 lakh

The Mumbai crime branch Sunday arrested three members of a gang for allegedly cheating Bajaj Finance Company of Rs 32 lakh by accessing consumer data from the company website, police said Monday.

On a specific tip-off, the property cell of the crime branch raided flats in Worli in Central Mumbai, Kalwa and Badlapur in neighbouring Thane district and arrested Abu Bakar Mohammadsab Shaikh (45), Ramiz Shaikh (27) and Rajesh Wadluri (37), an official said.

According to police, the gang illegally accessed the customer data of the company and used to avail consumer loans for buying high-end mobile phones in the name of customers.

The data provides access to the owners of electronics shops with their user names and passwords for checking authenticity of consumers, he said.

Ramiz Shaikh, who had worked in an electronics showroom, had stolen this user name and password to access the information online, he said.

After obtaining the data, the gang used to submit fake PAN cards and Aadhaar cards to the shop owner concerned and used to purchase mobile phones or other gadgets on EMI, the official said.

The gang has cheated the company of lakhs through this modus operandi, he said, adding that so far, 15 such cases have been identified.

The accused have been arrested in connection with seven such cases in which they have allegedly cheated the company of Rs 32 lakh, he said, adding that this figure may go up in crores.

The racket was committed the crime since 2017 in Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Virar and Vasai, he said.

All the accused were produced before court which remanded them in police custody till December 15.