3 held in Delhi for duping thousands with fake lucky draws

Three men, including a Delhi University graduate, were arrested in Shahdara's West Jyoti Nagar area for allegedly duping over 4,500 people across the country by organising fake lucky draws and offering expensive mobile phones at nominal rates, police said Tuesday. The accused were identified as Sanjay Panchal (22), Nikhil Soni (22) and Kunal (18), they added. Panchal was pursuing a correspondence course from the Delhi University.

On December 22 last year, police received information regarding a fake call centre in east Delhi that was involved in duping people in the name of lucky draws. The offered costly mobiles at "throwaway" prices but sent empty parcels to unsuspecting customers, said G Ramgopal Naik, Deputy Commissioner Of Police (crime). The accused had also created a fake website through which they used to lure customers by offering cellphones at cheap rates, he added.

The accused had hired some delivery boys, who used to pose as postmen, deliver the parcel, get the sum of Rs 4,550 and give them an empty parcel or a dummy phone and "even stones" in some cases, the officer said. More arrests are likely to be followed with the recovery of fake parcels as the raids are still going on at various places in Delhi and its neighbouring cities, he said, adding 30 mobile phones, a computer, empty parcels and other documents were recovered from them. Through this modus operandi, the accused persons have duped more than 4,500 people across the country and the exact amount is yet to be disclosed, Ranjan added.

(With inputs from agencies.)