Phishing scam: After Thane cops keep mum, Solapur cops close in on case

After middays indepth weeklong investigation into the working of a Thanebased fake call centre Stage Door Communication Private Limited SDCPL lending company Bajaj Finance Ltd submitted a complaint to the Wagle Estate police on Monday While the Thane police appear to be taking their time the Solapur police have been probing SDCPL for duping a trio of R1113 lakh and say they are close to making arrestsDuring the investigation midday reporter Shirish Vaktania joined SDCPL as a sales employee where he was one of 200 callers who dupe hundreds of people of lakhs every day The callers offer gullible people especially farmers loans at zero per cent interest and take their money in the form of an advance EMI They made the scam look genuine by offering the loans in the name of Bajaj FinanceGeneral Counsel of Bajaj Finance Ltd Bajaj Finserv Babu Rao said My team submitted a complaint letter to the Wagle Estate police and I met Thanes Commissioner of Police CP Vivek Phansalkar He told me they are looking for a complainant duped by the fake call centre No FIR has been filed so farmiddays calls and messages to Phansalkar went unanswered Sources at Wagle Estate police said they are verifying the complaint and cannot take suo motu actionAround 205 pm teams of Thane police and Thane Crime Branch visited the SDCPL officeAdditional CP West Region Anil Kumbhare told midday We dont have any complaint We are verifying the matter Our enquiry is going on While Additional CP Crime Pravin Pawar told midday that no complainants have turned upThe complaint under the letterhead of Bajaj Finserv read The complainant Bajaj Finance Ltd has no policy of asking customers to make advance payments in any bank account The accused are committing illegal acts with the intent to cheat innocent public and the complainant company Also the accused are earning illegally and causing loss to the complaint and the general publicBajaj Finserv also asked police to end the fake call centres operationsSDCPL was unaware of its operations being exposed until a couple of Thane police officers visited the office at 1237 pm and a team of police officers visited at 205 pm on Monday Employees were told to go for lunch after the second visitSolapur police probes SDCPLOver a fortnight ago a team from Sangola police station in Solapur Rural visited SDCPL after a local businessman Somnath Sutar 34 and his friends Raju Sutar and Mahesh Kamble were duped of Rs 1113 lakh by fake callers SubInspector Suresh Nalavade confirmed about the visit to midday One woman and two men were hauled to Solapur in connection to the caseFew of the police officers from the team that visited SDCPLOn January 21 2019 I received a call from the number 8097141963 The caller introduced himself as Sachin Patil from Bajaj Finance Goregaon East Mumbai He offered me a loan on zero per cent interest by buying Bharati Axa Elites 12year insurance A Rs 1 lakh insurance policy would get me a Rs 10 lakh loan The companys representatives would call me regularly and offer a loan reads Somnath Sutars FIR which was registered in November 2019On January 25 a man named Vishal Phalke claiming to be an executive of Bharati Axa Elite Insurance company came to collect a cheque of Rs 83500 I met him at the ST bus stand where he took my video and sent it to his senior I too took his photograph in my mobile Later an executive Suhas Jagtap said that the policy paper would be sent to Bajaj Finance Company for a mortgage loan against the policy I was also made to pay online again as they claimed that the payment system has changed They told me to refer the loan to friends which I did Sutars FIR read furtherMahesh Kamble one of three victims from SolapurSutar his friends Raju and Mahesh were collectively duped of Rs 1113390 through seven different transactionsWe have conducted an indepth investigation and are close to making arrests We have learnt that the duped money is being withdrawn in Kolkata Further investigation is on said inspector Rajesh Gawali of Sangola policeRs 1113lAmount the Solapur trio was duped of by SDCPLCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates