An unidentified man, claiming to polish gold jewellery for customers, cheated a woman of five sovereigns of jewellery in VKV Nagar in Thudiyalur on Friday.
In a complaint lodged with Thudiyalur police, Deepa (29) said that a man came to her house and offered to polish gold jewellery.
Deepa handed over a gold chain to him. He put the jewellery in a pressure cooker and sprinkled some powder on it. The man asked her to cover the cooker and boil the jewellery for 15 minutes. He then requested her for water. When she returned with water, the man was missing with the gold chain. The police registered a case and are searching for the culprit.
Second incident
This is the second incident in a week. Two unidentified men, claiming to polish gold jewellery, had cheated two women of seven-and-a-half sovereigns of jewellery in Ramanathapuram. City Police Commissioner Amaresh Pujari has asked people to be cautious against persons using a similar ploy to cheat them of their jewellery.
Modus operandi
The police, explaining the modus operandi through a statement, said that the conmen usually operated in pairs and approach women who were alone at home during daytime. They would speak Hindi and Tamil.
They would claim that as part of their companies' promotional campaign, they were offering to polish gold and silver items free of cost and ask the victims to hand over the jewellery.
They would place the jewellery inside the cooker, and after sprinkling turmeric and some other powder, would boil it for 15 minutes. By distracting the attention of the women, they would spirit away the jewellery.
The police said that if people came across such persons, they could alert the control room by dialling 100.
