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Thursday, Aug 24, 2006
Online edition of India's National Newspaper Thursday, Aug 24, 2006 |
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Tamil Nadu
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Chennai
L. Srikrishna
CHENNAI : "If you are stepping out of a bank with a lot of cash, do not fall prey to attention diverting tactics adopted by tricksters who are closely tracking you... Beware." Pamphlets carrying such warnings are being distributed to the public by the city police in a bid to create awareness about the need to be alert while carrying valuables such as cash. Confidence tricksters have successfully duped at least a dozen people in the last four weeks. Police said they had received complaints from four persons who fell prey to confidence tricksters, losing about Rs 10 lakh in cash. The conmen's modus operandi, a senior police officer told The Hindu on Wednesday, was to divert attention for the brief while that they need to strike. A common device the tricksters use is to drop some currencies on the ground and ask the targets whether it is their money. Another method is to spit on the shirt of the targeted person, and relieve him of valuables while offering to help wipe it off, the officer explained. "We are confident of nabbing the conmen soon as the profiles of habitual offenders have been circulated among the victims, who should be able to identify or at least point out features which will help us apprehend them," he added.
Same pattern
A police officer investigating a crime committed by conmen in Anna Nagar said the "pattern" appeared to be same. Dressed smartly and looking like respectable citizens, the conmen position themselves in and around commercial banks in busy locations and scout for targets. A well-known trick of the tricksters is to point to an imaginary oil leak from the vehicle of the intended victim. When the victim parks the car and gets out to check for the leak, an associate quietly lifts the bag before and makes good his escape. Last Saturday, for example, a car driver reportedly carrying Rs 1.50 lakh in Thirumangalam after withdrawing it from a local bank, was stopped by a two-wheeler rider who informed the driver that there was an oil leak from the vehicle. The driver got out to check. By the time he realised he had been fooled. On Wednesday, a doctor in Anna Nagar was the victim of a similar ploy, reportedly losing Rs.4 lakh cash kept in his car. Anna Nagar DCP Balasubramanian said that the police were confident of nabbing the offenders soon and recovering the cash stolen, but the public has expressed concern over the increasing number of such incidents.
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