Thane: Conmen cheat businessman from Bhayandar for Rs. 1.48 L under guise of giving loan

Thane: A 56-year-old businessman from Bhayandar was cheated of more than Rs.1.48 lakh by conmen under the guise of providing a loan from a well-known non-banking financial company (NBFC).

In his statement to the police, the complainant who deals in consumer products received a call from a person who offered a loan by identifying himself as the representative of the NDFC. The caller sent a person to the complainant’s office located in the Asha Nagar area of Bhayandar (east) and collected documents including- aadhar card, pan card, GST registration papers and bank statements to check eligibility.

The accused later collected four crossed cheques as security deposit to process the loan and disburse the amount. However, the complainant was shocked to learn that Rs.1,48,500 had been fraudulently withdrawn from his bank account via bearer cheques using three different names, this despite the fact that the complainant had duly crossed the cheques before handing them over to the suspects. The cheats had apparently altered the contents of the instrument to withdraw cash from the bank.

Realizing he was duped, the complainant issued a stop-payment advice to the bank for the remaining cheques and registered a complaint with the Navghar in Bhayandar police on Wednesday.

An offence under sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (fraudulently or dishonestly using a genuine document) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC has been registered. Further investigations were underway.