Ice-cream seller loses 1L to currency exchange fraud in Kolkata
Times of India | 21 December 2024
Kolkata: Cops from the Patuli police station arrested two persons for duping an ice-cream seller of Rs 1 lakh on the pretext of exchanging foreign currency.
The victim was in need of Saudi Riyals for visiting Saudi Arabia. He had fallen prey to the fraudsters, who promised to exchange Rs 1lakh for 72,000 Saudi Riyals — an unusually low rate of exchange.
The victim had lodged a complaint with Patuli Police after being allegedly cheated. Cops recovered Rs 72,000, counterfeit Saudi Riyals and fake Indian currency notes from the possession of the accused at the time of arrest, said said Joint CP (Crime & Traffic) Rupesh Kumar.
The seizure hints at a potentially larger currency fraud operation.
Police officials are currently conducting thorough interrogations of the suspects to uncover more details about their operation and to determine if there are other victims or accomplices involved in the scheme.
This incident serves as a reminder for the public to be cautious of deals offering foreign currency exchange at rates significantly lower than market value.
Often, such dealsturn out to be fraudulent schemes.