Noida (UP), In the 2002 hit Hollywood movie "Catch Me If You Can", Leonardo DiCaprio plays the role of a con man in the late 1960s who makes millions of dollars by forging checks.
Fast forward to the moment and a 10-member gang in Uttar Pradesh used the same modus operandi to scam people of millions of rupees, only their techniques were a little more sophisticated than those used in the film by Frank Abagnale Jr, the character played by DiCaprio.
The gang members were arrested by the Bulandshahr district police on Saturday for defrauding people across the country of millions of rupees through "cloning cheques", Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Shlok Kumar said.
Explaining their modus operandi, he said they used to steal checkbooks requested by customers before they reached them from the banks. When a customer lodged a complaint, the bank canceled the old checkbook and issued a new one, Kumar said.
The gang members used to get the details of the new check book from their accomplices before handing it over to a customer, the SSP said.
After removing the check details from the canceled check book using a chemical, the gang members printed the details of the check given and received by the customer. They then put a fake signature of the customer on the checks and withdrew the money, the official said.
In the film, Abagnale, to make a forgery, used glue to stick symbols and stencils to get the correct letters on a paper that had dimensions similar to those of a genuine check.
SSP Kumar said an investigation was launched after a local lodged a complaint that Rs 15 lakh had been withdrawn from his account through a check not issued by him.
"The complainant said that he did not receive any message from the bank. The man came to know that Rs 15 lakh had been withdrawn when he updated his passbook," the official said.
It was a well-organized gang and its members worked in teams, each with a name like that of a company or an office, the SSP said.
To scam people, its members would first obtain a person's customer details from banks and then "to obtain SIM cards, they would present false documents of the person whose name a number is assigned and show him or her as dead." Kumar said.
"After that, this number would be purchased in the name of a new person so that any calls or messages from the bank would be answered by the accused and, posing as the bank account holder, he would verify the fund transfers illegally initiated by him." , said. aggregate.
Giving details of the units into which the gang was divided, Kumar said a "layered group" was involved in transferring the fraudulently received money to different bank accounts, making it difficult for law enforcement agencies to trace it. and get it back.
"Then there was the 'asset creation group'. It was tasked with wisely investing ill-gotten money into asset creation, such as purchasing land or property or other assets somewhere," he added.
Nitin Kashyap, Prem Shankar Vishwakarma, Awadhesh Kumar, Shah Alam, Uruj Alam, Bhupendra Kumar, Kalicharan, Alok Kumar, Brijesh Kumar and Chatar Singh have been arrested, police said.
According to the police, 42 mobile phones, 33 SIM cards, 12 checkbooks from different banks, 20 passbooks and 14 loose checks were confiscated.
The police also seized a car and recovered a "Delhi Police cap" found on the dashboard. This gave them the impression that they were police personnel and helped them bypass security checks, they said.
"They used different phones to keep their identification hidden and evade police surveillance. They also carried walkie-talkies to communicate with each other," Kumar said.
He said the gang was active in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh, among other places in the country. This has been corroborated by the checkbooks and the seized material, stated the SSP.
Two of the 10 arrested accused are from Muzaffarnagar, where the police had declared a reward of Rs 15,000 for their arrest after they committed a similar fraud in 2021, he said.
The accused were remanded in judicial custody by a local court, he added.
Fast forward to the moment and a 10-member gang in Uttar Pradesh used the same modus operandi to scam people of millions of rupees, only their techniques were a little more sophisticated than those used in the film by Frank Abagnale Jr, the character played by DiCaprio.
The gang members were arrested by the Bulandshahr district police on Saturday for defrauding people across the country of millions of rupees through "cloning cheques", Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Shlok Kumar said.
Explaining their modus operandi, he said they used to steal checkbooks requested by customers before they reached them from the banks. When a customer lodged a complaint, the bank canceled the old checkbook and issued a new one, Kumar said.
The gang members used to get the details of the new check book from their accomplices before handing it over to a customer, the SSP said.
After removing the check details from the canceled check book using a chemical, the gang members printed the details of the check given and received by the customer. They then put a fake signature of the customer on the checks and withdrew the money, the official said.
In the film, Abagnale, to make a forgery, used glue to stick symbols and stencils to get the correct letters on a paper that had dimensions similar to those of a genuine check.
SSP Kumar said an investigation was launched after a local lodged a complaint that Rs 15 lakh had been withdrawn from his account through a check not issued by him.
"The complainant said that he did not receive any message from the bank. The man came to know that Rs 15 lakh had been withdrawn when he updated his passbook," the official said.
It was a well-organized gang and its members worked in teams, each with a name like that of a company or an office, the SSP said.
To scam people, its members would first obtain a person's customer details from banks and then "to obtain SIM cards, they would present false documents of the person whose name a number is assigned and show him or her as dead." Kumar said.
"After that, this number would be purchased in the name of a new person so that any calls or messages from the bank would be answered by the accused and, posing as the bank account holder, he would verify the fund transfers illegally initiated by him." , said. aggregate.
Giving details of the units into which the gang was divided, Kumar said a "layered group" was involved in transferring the fraudulently received money to different bank accounts, making it difficult for law enforcement agencies to trace it. and get it back.
"Then there was the 'asset creation group'. It was tasked with wisely investing ill-gotten money into asset creation, such as purchasing land or property or other assets somewhere," he added.
Nitin Kashyap, Prem Shankar Vishwakarma, Awadhesh Kumar, Shah Alam, Uruj Alam, Bhupendra Kumar, Kalicharan, Alok Kumar, Brijesh Kumar and Chatar Singh have been arrested, police said.
According to the police, 42 mobile phones, 33 SIM cards, 12 checkbooks from different banks, 20 passbooks and 14 loose checks were confiscated.
The police also seized a car and recovered a "Delhi Police cap" found on the dashboard. This gave them the impression that they were police personnel and helped them bypass security checks, they said.
"They used different phones to keep their identification hidden and evade police surveillance. They also carried walkie-talkies to communicate with each other," Kumar said.
He said the gang was active in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh, among other places in the country. This has been corroborated by the checkbooks and the seized material, stated the SSP.
Two of the 10 arrested accused are from Muzaffarnagar, where the police had declared a reward of Rs 15,000 for their arrest after they committed a similar fraud in 2021, he said.
The accused were remanded in judicial custody by a local court, he added.
