Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) unit of Special Cell, Delhi Police has busted a high-profile cheating racket in the name of the Ministry of Finance. The police have arrested four accused of the syndicate including the kingpin, reportedly involved in duping approximate 3000 people across North India region.
Apart from using the name of some big officials from the Ministry of Finance, the Life Insurance Companies, the Insurance Regulatory and the Development Authority (IRDA), the accused persons allegedly used to cheat people by using forged signature of Finance Minister of India, Nirmala Sitharaman and Regional Director of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), SMN Swamy.
The accused has been identified as Mehtab Alam (33), a native of Bijnor, UP, Sartaj Khan (31), a resident of New Mustafabad, Delhi, Mohammad Junaid (29), brother of Sartaj Khan, and Deen Mohammad (27).  Seven mobile phones and one laptop have been recovered from the accused.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (IFSO Unit), Prashant Gautam said that the accused used to collect data from insurance companies and accordingly target the victims by sending forged documents and forged cheques in order to entice and dupe gullible insurance policy holders.
According to the DCP, a reference from the Ministry of Finance regarding financial fraud, impersonation, and using forged documents in the name of the Ministry of Finance was received at the office of Commissioner of Police (CP), Delhi.
Sensing the gravity of offence, the reference was immediately marked to the IFSO unit of Special Cell. A fake letter issued in the name of the Ministry of Finance bearing the signature of the Finance Minister was also attached with the reference. Few more similar complaints were also received from the CP office for inquiry.
In the reference attached, the victim stated that he was telephonically approached by one person namely Chaman Lal and was told that some amount was sanctioned against his lapsed insurance policy. He was asked to provide his email ID.
Then a letter was sent to the victim through a fake email ID, wherein he was informed that an amount of Rs. 12,46,518/- had got sanctioned against his lapsed insurance policies.
To claim the sanctioned amount, the victim was initially asked to pay Rs. 44,000/- as processing charges. When he paid the said amount, he was again asked to pay Rs. 27,000/- as No Objection Certificate (NOC) charges and when the victim paid the asked amount, a forged cheque of Rs. 12,46,518/- was sent to the victim by the fraudsters through post.
Later, when the victim got the cheque, he was again asked to pay Rs. 52,000/- as the final fund release charges and he was told that without paying the said amount, he won’t be able to get the cheque amount. In this way, the victim was cheated for a sum of Rs. 1,27,000/-.
Immediately a case was lodged in the matter and a team consisting of Sub-Inspectors Sunil Yadav, Sushil Kumar, Assistant SIs Tek Chand, Lalit and Head-Constable Robin was constituted by the DCP Prashant Gautam under the supervision of Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Manish Jorwal.
After working on all technical aspects and cyber trailing, the police team zeroed down the location and identity of the alleged persons involved in the crime and successfully apprehended the mastermind of the syndicate namely Mehtab Alam. Further, his other three associates were arrested on his instance. All the accused involved in the offence have previous experience of working at insurance companies.
The accused disclosed that they used to call the insurance policy holders posing as officials from IRDA, RBI and Ministry of Finance and lured them on pretext of providing maturity amount against their existing or lapsed policies.
In order to convince the policy holders, they used to send emails using email IDs which are similar to that of Government Financial Institutions with forged documents seemingly issued from RBI, Ministry of Finance and IRDA.
They also used to send forged cheques to the victims by post in order to induce them and later, cheat them by asking to pay for various charges such as processing charges, NOC charges and fund releasing charges.
Hunt for other co-accused involved in these offences is under progress.