Hyderabad: Fraudsters are using outdated foreign currency to defraud businessmen in the city. The Turkish Lira and Brazilian Cruzados, which were demonetised around 10 years ago, are being smuggled into Hyderabad. Three rackets using these currencies have been busted by the city police. Cops suspect more gangs are attempting to defraud people using these currencies.
Top officials of the Commisioner's Task Force said that Cruzado was the currency of Brazil from 1986 to 1989 and it was replaced with Real. The fraudsters in AP and Telangana collected old Cruzado notes from overseas smugglers.
The crooks also have the pre-2005 Turkish currency Lira, which had also been taken out of circulation. A week ago, two fraudsters tried to defraud people by distributing pre-2005 Turkish Lira currency notes in Musheerabad.
The duo brought outdated currency nominally worth lakhs from Srikakulam, told some people that it was genuine and promised to sell it cheaply. One of the victims paid money and bought the currency, but later realised the notes were demonetised. The duo had claimed that they had Lira worth Rs10 lakh before the police arrested them.
In another case, police arrested a five-member gang while they were trying to sell demonetised Brazilian currency in the city.
The gang, hailing from Mahbubnagar, had Brazilian Cruzados nominally worth Rs 1.2 crore. They fooled a trader into believing that 500 Cruzados is equal to Rs 12, and took Rs 1.24 lakh from him. Similarly, sleuths of the Commissioner’s Task Force, West Zone, busted a 12-member gang, including two students, who were trying to sell Cruzados to some people at Abids.
The police seized nine lakh Cruzado notes in 1,000 denominations which is nominally equivalent to Rs 2 crore. in Indian currency.
“Foreign smugglers hand over these outdated currencies to Indian fraudsters as they think Indians can be fooled easily,” said a senior official of the Commissioner’s Task Force.
Two held with outdated Lira
The police arrested two people at Rathifile Bus Stop while they were trying to sell the demonetised Turkish currency Lira. The duo was trying to defraud people into buying the currency for lakhs. This is the second arrest made by the police in connection with demonetised foreign currency. Police seized 96 Lira notes from them.
The suspects are G. Mallikarjun, 47, of Kavali in Nellore district and his friend, J. Hanumantha Chary, 35, belonging to the Singaraya-konda mandal of Prakasam district. Police said they purchased the currency from a person named Srinivas for Rs 50,000 at Vijayawada and brought it to Hyderabad for sale. The police laid a trap and apprehended them from the Rathifile Bus Stop in Secunderabad.
