Posing as Women, 2 Men Cheat Traders in Maharashtra, Gujarat; Arrested by Police

Mumbai: Two men allegedly cheated 19 traders in Maharashtra and Gujarat by posing as women on phone calls and asking for money from them. Both were arrested by Maharashtra police.

The arrested duo targeted jewelers, sweet and medical shop owners as well as blood banks. Their modus-operandi came to the fore when a jeweler from the Kashimira area complained to police that one of the accused had called him by posing as a lady doctor interested to buy gold jewelry from his shop.

The accused offered to pay Rs 2 lakh as advance and asked the jeweler to come to a hospital to collect it. The accused also asked the jeweler to provide cash worth Rs 2 lakh in smaller denominations, in exchange for the same amount to be paid to him, for hospital-related transactions, the official said.

When the jeweler arrived at the hospital carrying the Rs 2 lakh cash, the accused collected the money from him and then asked him to go and meet the doctor. The accused escaped when the jeweler went inside the hospital.

Basing on the complaint lodged by this jeweler, Manish Ambekar and Anwar Ali Kadir Sheikh were arrested from Virar (Palghar) and Alibaug (Raigad).

During interrogation, they revealed that they had cheated 19 people from Thane, Palghar, Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Kolhapur in Maharashtra and Vapi, Valsad and Surat in Gujarat. Fourteen cases were registered against them at various police stations in Thane, Palghar, Mumbai and Pune.