Man held for duping loan seekers using fake website

The Wadala TT police have arrested a 26-year-old old man from Delhi who allegedly duped loan seekers by creating fake websites of reputed banks. He is accused of collecting money from the applicants on the pretext of sanctioning them a loan.

The police said accused Amit Amitabh Choudhary, alias Jitendra Singh had recently duped a Mumbai-based woman of Rs 1 lakh by promising her to sanction a loan.

The woman told the police she came across a site that appeared very similar to that of a popular a finance company offering personal loans at a very low interest rate. Excited by the offer, she filled up the form on the website and was contacted over email to send a few documents for verification.

"The victim unsuspectedly sent the documents and within an hour she received a call from an 'executive of the bank', who told her that the 'loan' has been sanctioned and she will have to transfer processing fees. The woman unsuspectingly followed instructions and sent him Rs 1 lakh in three transactions. However the victim did not get any reply the bank for long and the number was also not reachable," said a police officer.

Realising that she has been duped, she approached the police, who launched a probe. Senior Inspector Sushil Kamble of of Wadala TT police formed a team to trace the accused. "We arrested him from Delhi and are interrogating him to ascertain if he has duped more people. Chaudhary would work with few more persons, who are untraceable. They would operate from an office and would make fake websites of banks to dupe loan takers," said another police officer.