Police bust EMI loan fraud racket in Kolkata

KOLKATA: Cops have busted a loan fraud racket and have arrested a non-banking financial company who had duped scores of customers by allegedly picking up multiple electronic items from a leading electronics chain in Sector V by himself against documents of genuine customers and issuing loans in their names.
The incident came to light when multiple customers of a store at Sector V in Salt Lake complained of a finance company had been deducting EMIs against some electronic items which they never had with them.
Finally, on December 13 last year, the area manager of a non-banking financial company lodged a complaint with the Bidhannagar Cyber Crime police station raising the issue. “As per the complaint, loan of approx. Rs.3.5 lakh were sanctioned to multiple customers for purchasing of different products between April 20 and August 8 last year. Later the it could be ascertained that although loans were sanctioned in the name of different customers and products were booked in the name of the customers but the no products were delivered to them,” said a senior officer of Bidhannagar Commissionerate.
Probing into the case police, on Thursday, arrested Arindam Kumar Mitra (30), a former employee of the complainant’s company. A graduate and an original resident of Assam, Mitra was picked up from a Maniktala address on Thursday evening. Cops said, they will question Mitra further to know the details of his accomplices.
Explaining the modus operandi, police said, even after Mitra had left the job, he had a user name and a password that allowed him access to the company’s internal server. He also had managed to get data of some customers who had availed EMI facility of the company and still had accounts.
“Using the details Mitra had forged cards like the ones given by the company to customers and also made forged documents of the customers from the database. Using a network of accomplices, he bought expensive electronic goods on EMI facility against these customers’ accounts. In some cases, the company, after getting applications from dealers, would reject them as bogus, due to which the dealers would suffer losses. In other cases, the fraudulent applications would slip through the cracks leading the customers to suffer,” the officer said.