Loan racket: 12 arrested in city

The fraudsters had rented a two-storey building to run the call centre named Phoenix Outdoor Solutions at Chitlapakkam. While four women were employed there, one was part of the main gang, said the police. Among the accused, the kingpin was identified as S Manikandan (26) of Villupuram district. His associates are P Muthukumar (27) of Tambaram, R Silambarasan (23) of Karapakkam, S Sharmila (32) of Tiruporur, A Mohammed Ismail (21) of Vettuvankani, E Aakash (21) of Pallikaranai, R Vidyasagar (20) of Tiruvanmiyur and P Muthuraj (31) of Tambaram.

The four women were provided with the database of phone numbers to make calls and offer people loans at a low-interest rate. Their modus operandi was similar to the previous case in which fraudsters used to procure huge databases of phone numbers from vendors and call them. “On the pretext of offering loans, they would get their debit and credit card credentials such as 16-digit numbers as well as CVV details. As they do not ask for the PIN number, victims would be under the impression that it cannot be misused. But the fraudsters would transfer money from their bank accounts using the credentials to various e-wallets such as Just Dial, PayU Money, Playgames, Payments Pay, Paytm and their bank accounts. They would block numbers of the people who were cheated to become unreachable. They have not got a single loan sanctioned for their customers,” said an officer.

After CCB received several such complaints, a case was registered and the accused were traced with the help of mobile phone tower locations. As many as 23 mobile phones and two laptops were seized from their office. The police could not recover any cash as the gang has allegedly spent all the money lavishly.

While all 12 persons were remanded in judicial custody, tension prevailed in front of the old city police Commissioner’s office on Tuesday as the parents of the four women gathered there claiming that their daughters only worked for a monthly salary of Rs 10,000 and were not aware of the fraud.

The CCB had already busted a fake loan racket and arrested about 20 persons including themastermind.