Four old women lost their gold ornaments in different parts of the city on Monday morning after falling prey to fraudsters posing as policemen. The victims were told to remove their ornaments as a ‘crime had taken place in the vicinity’.
In the first incident, which took place in Byatarayanapura police station limits, Prema Kumari, 62, a retired teacher, lost two gold chains and two bangles worth `2 lakh. She told the police that two men claiming to be policemen in plainclothes approached her near Kalyani Motors on Mysore Road at 11.30am. They told her that a murder had be committed on the same road and told her not to wear gold jewellery. They ‘helped’ her in keeping the ornaments in her bag. Later in the day, she discovered that the ornaments were missing.
In another incident in Jnana Bharathi, Vijaymalini, 55, was walking to a shop when she was approached by a person claiming to be a policeman, who tried the same trick.
Vijaymalini told police that through newspaper reports, she was aware of robbers using this modus operandi. However, she believed him when another person came running to him and handed over his gold chain. Then she too removed her ornaments. They helped her to keep it in the bag, but after some time she found that her ornaments, worth `2.5 lakh, were missing.
In yet another incident, two miscreants showed a fake ID police IDcard to a 69-year-old woman in Banasawadi, employed the attention-diversion trick and fled with her gold chain worth ` 1 lakh. The other victim, Sathya Prakashamma, 65, fell prey to conmen at Kodigehalli Gate. She lost her gold ornaments worth `1.5 lakh to the same trick.
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