The Hindu : New Delhi News : Nothing comes hassle-free

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Dec 11, 2010
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

New Delhi

New Delhi

Nothing comes hassle-free

The increasing number of cases of people being duped of their hard-earned money on false promises of hassle-free loans, handsome returns on investments and admissions to prestigious colleges once again calls for creating more awareness among the public about such gangs and their modus operandi and a more proactive approach by the police.

In October this year, the police smashed one such gang of cheats with the arrest of eight persons, including five women. The gang had been active in the city for over a year and allegedly duped over 500 students on the pretext of providing them education loan. The 16 bank accounts of the gang in various banks showed transactions of over Rs.1 crore.

In November, a science graduate and his friend were arrested for allegedly duping people of several lakhs on the promise of hassle-free personal loans. Thirteen expensive mobile phone handsets, a motorcycle, 11 insurance policies purchased with the cheated money and Rs.45,000 in cash were allegedly recovered. A few days later, four persons were arrested for allegedly duping people on the pretext of opening savings bank accounts.

“There are striking similarities in the way these gangs operate, for example in most of cases the culprits lure people on the pretext of providing loans at nominal rates or offer irresistibly high returns on investment. These gangs mostly hire young women to contact people over the mobile phone and inform them about their schemes. One of the members of the gang, who is usually good at spoken English, then traps the target exhibiting his conversational skills. These cheats usually avoid personal meetings with the targets and do not disclose their address. Some of the gangs keep changing their addresses to avoid getting caught,” said a senior police officer.

Interestingly, it is not just the illiterate or ill-informed who fall prey to such tactics. There are instances where even well-educated and well-informed people have been trapped and cheated. Not so long ago, a gang of cheats smashed by the police had several retired and serving senior Army officers among its victims.

“Such acts are not committed on the street like robbery, murder and snatching. And it cannot be committed without winning the confidence of the victim. Thus an individual has more important role to play in curbing such crime than the police. Creating awareness about the tactics usually employed by the cheats can thus go a long way in checking it. Taking such little precautions as checking the genuineness of the company before making an investment, investing in financial institutions adhering to Reserve Bank of India's guidelines, avoiding promises and assurances with respect to monetary gain made by “godmen” and making payment through cheques can prevent occurrence of such cheating cases to a great extent. The Delhi Police bring out advertisements urging people not to be mislead by tempting offers and informing them about the precautions they should take so that they do not fall prey to such tactics,” said a senior police officer.

But the officer concedes that the police can indeed pay a bigger role in prevention of such crimes. “It has often been seen that the local police are aware of such schemes being run in their area and the people investing in them. But they avoid taking any action unless a complaint is registered. In such cases, the police would do well to check the genuineness of such schemes and take necessary legal action instead of passively waiting for the commission of crime,” the officer added.

Ashok Kumar

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

New Delhi