The police have been unveiling one scam after the other in the city in recent times. The Central police arrested a man on charge of orchestrating a Rs.16-crore jewellery scam that promised people returns for periodic investments.
What struck the police about the scam was the network of agents employed by the jewellery store. While the owners established a chain of stores in Kerala and Tamil Nadu and publicised their brand through advertisements, they also developed a network of agents employed to net more customers. With their help, the company was able to enroll at least 2,500 people to the scheme in a short span of time. “It’s not as if the victims of the scam were uneducated or unaware. The company had a team of agents armed with brochures to attract customers in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The agents were given targets for enlisting customers and they would rope in their friends and neighbours,” said a police officer.
A victim of the scam said that despite his suspicions, he had enrolled in the scheme because the agent was a close associate of his.
When matters came to a head, the agents were in a fix as they were the only contact people had with the company. Some of the agents also approached the police with complaints as they too had not been paid for over a month.
Thieves target locked homes
The Kadavanthra police detected a case of car theft on Paradise Road on Tuesday morning. Local residents reported that they had seen two men trying to steal a motorbike from a flat on the same road the same day.
What connected the owners of both vehicles was that they lived outside the State. The thieves had visited the area beforehand to find the vehicles outside locked doors and struck at the opportune moment.
The owner of the car that was stolen had been living in Goa for a while.
A caretaker living in his outhouse woke up on Tuesday morning to find the gate unlocked and car missing. Police said the thieves had broken into the house to get the key before stealing the vehicle. When the police arrived on the spot soon after, local residents reported seeing two men trying to wheel away a motorbike. On further investigation, it turned out that the motorbike belonged to a person on the same street who lived abroad.
