Racketeers made credit cards with help from magistrate, advocate and additional standing counsel
Cyberabad police commissioner C.V. Anand addressing a press conference and showing the seized fake voter ID PAN and Credit cards after arresting few persons. (Photo: DC)
Hyderabad: A gang comprising a systems operator of the GHMC and bank and courier service employees created hundreds of PAN cards, voter IDs and credit cards on fictitious names to cheat banks.
The gang got allegedly got help from an additional standing counsel of the Centre, an advocate and even a magistrate, who attested their documents without verifying them. The Cyberabad police busted the racket by arresting 13 people. Police recovered 196 PAN cards, 199 voter IDs, 115 credit cards of different banks and more than Rs 60 lakh.
Investigation officials are collecting evidence against the magistrate, advocate and the Centre’s additional standing counsel in order to arrest them. “He gave fictitious names and address in all the applications. After getting PAN cards, Voter ID cards, and ITR-4 forms (income-tax returns), he procured credit cards from banks and financial institutions like HDFC, SBI, American Express, IndusInd, and City Union. He also colluded with bank officials, who manipulated the field verification and other process,” said Cyberabad police commissioner C.V. Anand.
“Usually after receiving an application for a credit card, some banks send private agencies for field verification while others verify the details over the phone. During verification, Jagan colluded with sales executives of the bank and field verification officers of private agencies to clear the verification since all the addresses and names were fictitious,” Mr Anand said.
He allegedly paid Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000 for each application. After the processing, the banks would issue the credit cards and the same were sent to the address through courier services. Jagan would approach the delivery boys and get the cards directly before they went to the addresses mentioned. He would pay Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 to each of them, Mr Anand said.
Jagan would swipe the cards and draw cash. “He got 55 cards from SBI. He swiped five cards at Balaji Gift Shop, Ramanthapur, and took cash, and 17 cards in different petrol bunks where he took Rs 23 lakh by paying 3 per cent of commission to the owners,” said Mr Anand.
How gang duped top banks in city:
The Cyberabad police exposed how easily a gang that was arrested on Tuesday cheated the government, the National Securities Depository Limited, and the Unit Trust of India to procure original PAN cards and voter ID cards in fictitious names.
The gang used to fill the forms with fake names and get them attested from the additional standing counsel of the Centre. It secured birth certificates from a magistrate before applying for the ID cards. The entire process cost less that than Rs 5,000.
“These (loopholes) have serious repercussion on the security of our nation. The PAN card and Voter ID cards are the most important cards issued by the Centre. With these two cards, documents like the passport and Aadhaar cards can be acquired,” said Mr C.V. Anand, Cyberabad commissioner of police. How the gang manipulated the system to get their documents.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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