Maha: Three held for duping loan seekers in Thane

They would tell the victims loans had been sanctioned and would keep fleecing them by way of non-existent processing fees, the official said.The Rs 7.34 lakh taken from the complainant has been recovered, while five mobile phones and several ATM cards have been seized from the accused, Bagde said.

Three persons were arrested for allegedly duping loan seekers, a Thane police official said on Thursday.

A probe into this racket had begun after a man complained on December 5, Manpada police station senior inspector Shekhar Bagde said.

''The man got a call from a person posing as a bank official, who said the former's Rs 10 lakh bank loan had been cleared but he would need to pay Rs 30,000 as processing fees. He later called saying the loan amount has been hiked to Rs 27 lakh,'' he said.

''The accused, through various means, took Rs 7.34 lakh from the victim. After realising he had been duped, the man approached police, which got in touch with various banks into which payments had been made,'' he added.

Based on a tip off, one accused was held from Shimla, and his interrogation led to the arrests of his associates from Noida and other parts of Uttar Pradesh, he said.

''The modus operandi was to open bank accounts using fake documents and then trapping people who are on the look out for loans. They would tell the victims loans had been sanctioned and would keep fleecing them by way of non-existent processing fees,'' the official said.

The Rs 7.34 lakh taken from the complainant has been recovered, while five mobile phones and several ATM cards have been seized from the accused, Bagde said.