Ingenious fraudsters duped authorised agents of various banks who exchange cheques and demand drafts (DDs) for cash from people without bank accounts.
The Silver Jubilee Park police arrested three of them, including a former bank employee.
Their targets were the agents usually found carrying out their business on the footpath by the LIC building opposite the BBMP headquarters here.
Police said Harish Kumar (26), G. Shanmugam (25), and Rajashekaran (53) forged cheques and DDs of various nationalised banks along with fake documents, including identity card, Electoral ID, PAN card, Aadhaar card and passbooks, to convince the agents that their transactions were genuine. They would hand over the fake cheques and DDs and scoot after collecting the instant cash.
These agents, who are authorised by the banks, accept the cheques and DDs in exchange for cash and charge a fee for their service.
Customers, who don’t have any bank account, get their cheques and DDs encashed from these agents, whose commission ranges from Rs. 80 to Rs. 100 for every Rs. 1,000 they pay in cash.
Daily turnover
Police estimate the daily turnover of the agents to be around Rs. 50 lakh. Incidentally, their customers also include bank account holders in need of money urgently.
Taking advantage of this, Shanmugam, a former bank employee, devised a plan and roped in Harish Kumar from Mysore, a master forger, police said.
Along with Rajashekaran, they faked the IDs and bank cheques and DDs to perpetrate the fraud.
“It’s a huge racket and many more are involved,” said Assistant Commissioner of Police B.N. Nyame Gowda said.
Four others are on the run, he said.
