Punjab: Under Operation Cyber Shield, police arrested six people including four women and busted a fake loan and insurance call centre in Sri Ganganagar. Several people involved in the scam were detained in a raid conducted at a house in Sant Kripal Nagar. The mastermind of the operation is a woman from Bihar, who has been living in Sri Ganganagar for the last five years. Kotwali police station in-charge Prithvipal Singh said that the records seized during the raid revealed fraud and forgery of about Rs 1.25 crore. Those arrested include Naresh Shakya (32), Reshma Khatoon (33), Anuradha alias Khushboo (30), Lovepreet Preet (19), Anu Rajput (21) and Gagandeep Mintu (22). A case has been registered under sections 318(4), 61(2)(b) of the Indian Penal Code and section 66-C of the IT Act. According to the police report, the call centre mastermind Reshma Khatoon originally hails from Bihar and started living in Sriganganagar after the death of her husband. In 2019, she met Naresh Shakya and the two launched a fake page named “Shriram Finserv” on Facebook, which was very similar to the official name of the legitimate Shriram Finance Private Limited. Through this page, they lured people by promising loans and insurance policies. Anuradha, Anu and Lovepreet were recruited to work in this scam. Gagandeep Mintu’s bank account was used to receive the fraud money while his account in IDBI Bank was used to move the money around.
During the raid, the officials recovered several items including five keypad mobile phones, eight Android mobile phones, one HP laptop, three keyboards, two LED screens, one CPU and 34 registers containing records of fraudulent activities. Preliminary investigations revealed that the gang would convince victims to deposit amounts ranging from Rs 650 to Rs 850 as “processing fee” for loan approval. Similarly, they would demand almost the same amount for insurance. However, the victims never received the promised loan or insurance policy, and when they attempted to withdraw their money, they were told that the processing fee was non-refundable. The bust came to light after a man filed a complaint on a cyber portal who was duped of Rs 650. He was lured into the scam with the promise of getting a loan. The state cyber crime wing forwarded the complaint to the Sriganganagar police, following which successful raids and arrests were made.
