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MUMBAI: Andheri police arrested the mastermind, an engineer, for running a fake call centre to siphon money from people after posting a fake advertisement on social media luring people to get Prime Minister Mudra’s Loan at just 2 percent per lakh. The mastermind, Sunil Chavan (27) who hails from Bijapur in Karnataka, was running the fake call centre in an office at Ulve in Panvel which he has kept as a front end where he was running digital marketing work orders. Police have seized at least 17 bank accounts that Chavan was operating to park the money siphoned from people. These accounts are opened with Aadhar Card and PAN card documents that he got from people residing on the roadside after luring them with money.
Chavan’s luck ran short after his team of nine people (from his native village working in the fake call centre) duped an Andheri resident, SM Meena (44), of Rs40,240 after she came across the Mudra Loan ad on Facebook on January 1. “Chavan and his gang of nine were caught through technical assistance after it was learned that he was supposed to come to a bank in Panvel to open a bank account,” said a police officer of the Andheri police station.
In the complaint, Meena said: “I had taken a personal loan for Rs3.15 lakhs in 2023. Due to the high interest rate, I was searching for a loan at a lower interest rate after closing the existing one. It was during the search I came across the ad on FB about Mudra Loan. I was asked to pay Rs40240 as processing fees after asking me to send my Aadhar card, PAN card and banking details. I got suspicious when the person disconnected the call after collecting the money.”
Based on the complaint, DCP (Zone X) Datta Nalawade supervised the team–ACP Dr Shashikant Bhosale, Senior inspector Santaji Ghorpade, inspector Umesh Machindra, assistant inspector Ranit Gundare, sub-inspector Manmath Thodkar, and staff–nabbed Chavan through technical assistance and carried out a raid at the call centre in Ulve that was operated from an office that he has kept as a front end to take digital marketing orders.
Interestingly, Chavan is found of gold ornaments and has invested at least Rs23 lakhs which he wears and even splurges on roadside dwellers to buy food packets for them and get their Aadhar Card and PAN card details to open a bank account that is used to park the siphoned money. “There are at least 45 FIRs registered against Chavan across the country. He is operating a similar call centre in Goa and has not been caught so far. We have seized gold ornaments worth Rs21.66 lakhs, Rs10 lakhs cash, a car, a laptop, 61 mobile, 61 debit cards, 20 chequebooks and 37 passbooks from Chavan,” said the police.
Chavan’s luck ran short after his team of nine people (from his native village working in the fake call centre) duped an Andheri resident, SM Meena (44), of Rs40,240 after she came across the Mudra Loan ad on Facebook on January 1. “Chavan and his gang of nine were caught through technical assistance after it was learned that he was supposed to come to a bank in Panvel to open a bank account,” said a police officer of the Andheri police station.
In the complaint, Meena said: “I had taken a personal loan for Rs3.15 lakhs in 2023. Due to the high interest rate, I was searching for a loan at a lower interest rate after closing the existing one. It was during the search I came across the ad on FB about Mudra Loan. I was asked to pay Rs40240 as processing fees after asking me to send my Aadhar card, PAN card and banking details. I got suspicious when the person disconnected the call after collecting the money.”
Based on the complaint, DCP (Zone X) Datta Nalawade supervised the team–ACP Dr Shashikant Bhosale, Senior inspector Santaji Ghorpade, inspector Umesh Machindra, assistant inspector Ranit Gundare, sub-inspector Manmath Thodkar, and staff–nabbed Chavan through technical assistance and carried out a raid at the call centre in Ulve that was operated from an office that he has kept as a front end to take digital marketing orders.
Interestingly, Chavan is found of gold ornaments and has invested at least Rs23 lakhs which he wears and even splurges on roadside dwellers to buy food packets for them and get their Aadhar Card and PAN card details to open a bank account that is used to park the siphoned money. “There are at least 45 FIRs registered against Chavan across the country. He is operating a similar call centre in Goa and has not been caught so far. We have seized gold ornaments worth Rs21.66 lakhs, Rs10 lakhs cash, a car, a laptop, 61 mobile, 61 debit cards, 20 chequebooks and 37 passbooks from Chavan,” said the police.
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