In a significant operation, the Shivajinagar Police have dismantled a fraudulent call center operating in Wakdewadi, which was deceiving citizens by falsely promising high returns on LIC policies.
The fraudulent scheme involved forging LIC identity cards and using fake company stamps to trick unsuspecting victims into believing they would earn lucrative returns on their insurance policies. The scam was orchestrated by Shankar Karkun Pokharkar (42), who is identified as the mastermind behind the operation.
According to the police, one of the accused, Pokharkar, had previously worked in LIC policy issuance and had illegally accessed customer data. This information was then exploited to contact individuals and lure them into the scam. The accused used the fraudulent data to pose as legitimate LIC agents and convince victims to invest large sums of money.
During the police raid on the call center, authorities seized several incriminating items, including:
35 counterfeit rubber stamps of reputed companies
15 mobile phones used to contact victims
150 SIM cards for fraudulent communications
30 different bank accounts and checkbooks
The arrested individuals, apart from Pokharkar, have been identified as:
Mehfooz Mehboob Siddiqui
Ashish Ramdas Mankar
The investigation into the fraudulent operation began after Pokharkar defrauded a Shivajinagar resident of Rs5.04 lakh in 2021 by promising substantial returns on his LIC policy. However, after receiving no returns, the victim realized he had been scammed and filed a complaint in 2023, which led to the police investigation.
The Shivajinagar Police are continuing their probe to identify other potential victims and prevent further fraudulent activities. Authorities have urged the public to be cautious when dealing with individuals offering financial returns that seem too good to be true.
