Two arrested for duping showroom owners

NEW DELHI - Two members of an inter-state gang of cheats have been arrested for cheating showroom owners by using fraudulent credit cards, police said Thursday.

Vicky Arora, 28, and Vikas, 25, two members of an interstate gang of cheats from Haryana’s Faridabad town were arrested Sunday for cheating showroom owners in malls and posh markets.

“The gang used to target big showrooms in posh malls of the national capital region,” a senior police official said. He added that the duo was being interrogated to ascertain their involvement and a hunt was now on for the gang leader.

According to police, complaints were received from a posh shopping mall in south Delhi April 27 that two customers purchased goods worth lakhs of rupees on credit cards, but when the bank was contacted, it was found that the credit cards were blocked and payment was denied. The identities submitted by the customers were also found to be fake.

One of the accused, Vikas was identified Saturday in other malls on the basis of the photograph in the identity proof he had earlier provided to a shopkeeper.

During interrogation of Vikas and Vicky, it was found Vippin Pahwa of Faridabad was the gang’s leader, the police officer said.

“The gang used to procure credit cards either from the courier boy or from the card holder on pretext of getting the card value regained. They made fake IDs, PAN cards, driving licences in the name of the card holders,” the official said, adding several showrooms were duped to the tune of around Rs.10-15 lakh in this manner.