Cyber cops bust insurance scam
Cyber cops bust insurance scam: 25k vehicle owners cheated in Ghaziabad for one year
Ghaziabad:Two fraudsters, who were part of a gang that deceived over 25,000 people across the nation — among them 128 victims from the city — during the last one year under the pretext of providing vehicle insurance, were arrested on Sunday.The financial impact of this fraud exceeds Rs 50 crore.
Cyber police officials believe over one lakh people may have fallen prey to the scam over the last two years. Police are continuing to identify and reach out to more such victims. A senior police officer said that in addition to I. L. G. I., these accused also fabricated third-party insurance policies for many companies. The accused are S. (51), a resident of M., and D. T. (38), a resident of K. N.
Sartaj holds a BCom degree, while Thakur has a BA degree. These two were licensors at the R. office in Ghaziabad.
The accused were booked under Section 318 (4) (cheating) of the BNS and relevant sections of the IT Act at Cyber police station.
A senior police officer said the two accused were sending details to a woman in D.. The woman, identified as P., used to make the insurance papers for two-wheelers and would send them to the accused.
Later, they forwarded the documents to customers. A team has been formed to nab the woman and the mastermind, named R. K.
The officer said, the duo fabricated third-party insurance policies for other companies as well, including M. H. G. Insurance, C. M. G. Insurance, R. G.l Insurance, B. A., T. A. Insurance, Z., N. Insurance, S. G. Insurance Company Limited, H. E., R. S. G. Insurance and S. G. Insurance. Police are contacting these companies.A total of 84 counterfeit third-party insurance policies from various insurance companies have been recovered from the accused's mobile phones.
ADCP (crime & cyber) P. K. S. said, “The perpetrators would collect complete premium payments from owners of aged commercial vehicles and lorries but would fraudulently alter the policy-generation application to issue two-wheeler insurance instead of coverage for heavy vehicles. The cost of insurance for a two-wheeler is around Rs 1,500, while the cost for four-wheelers and heavy vehicles is between Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000.”
The ADCP said that on March 8, a complaint was filed by vice president of I. L. G.Insurance Sanjay Thakur regarding the manipulation of the company’s insurance app by two policy agents in Ghaziabad.
The agents allegedly created fake insurance policies by misrepresenting commercial vehicles, private cars and goods carriers as two-wheelers. An FIR was registered against two agents — R. and V. K. R. improperly issued 858 insurance policies with a premium of Rs 12.31 lakh while V. issued 128 policies with a premium of Rs 18.50 lakh.
The ADCP said four people were arrested on March 10. Those arrested include V. and A. S. from R., K., while Y. and A. were from Civil Lines, Moradabad. R. is absconding.
S. and D. were arrested after two more names were revealed by the gang. A few other names have also come under the scanner.
The ADCP told T. the proprietors of aged commercial vehicles and trucks generally purchase only third-party coverage. The sole purpose of such insurance is to seek compensation through legal channels following accidents, eliminating the need for additional verification processes. This creates opportunities for manipulation when issuing low-value third-party policies.
“These reduced-rate policies satisfy the requirement for online vehicle coverage, whilst vehicle owners remain oblivious to the fraudulent nature of their documentation,” he said.