Rs 2.1 crore pan-India e-fraud: Gurpreet Singh arrested

Declared a 'proclaimed offender' by seven states, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the UT Police, on Thursday, arrested a 29-year-old native of Jalandhar for allegedly cheating various businessmen across the country. The latest case of forgery against the accused, Gurpreet Singh, was registered at Sector 26 police station on August 25, in which he had committed forgery worth Rs 2.10 crore.

Apart from Chandigarh police, Gurpreet is in the wanted list of Delhi Police, Ghaziabad Police, Ludhiana Police, Gujarat Police, Ratlam Police, Indore Police and Raipur Police. During preliminary investigations, the accused reportedly divulged the names of accomplices.

The Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Alok Kumar said, "During preliminary investigations, he has revealed the names of two banks whose employees were involved with him in making fake drafts."

Modus Operandi

Gurpreet would first surf the internet to identify copper and brass dealers in Gujarat, Ratlam, Indore and Raipur. After identifying his 'prospects' he would create an e-mail address and send them electronic messages saying that he wanted to buy some consignments which he wanted to be delivered at a particular address.

He would acquire the number of the truck driver who was bringing his consignment. Later he would call the driver and ask him to deliver the consignment somewhere in between. He would then wait at the designated spot with another truck ready to receive the consignment. He would then give a fake Demand Draft to the truck driver.

After accepting the consignment, he would destroy his mobile phone, SIM-card and would never use the e-mail address used to contact the dealer. "He used to use a particular number and e-mail address for one deal only," the DIG said. Till date, Gurpreet has used nearly 40 mobile phones and numbers and the e-mail addresses were accessed from cyber cafes. He had also opened fake bank accounts.

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