At least four Bangladeshi nationals were detained on suspicion of defrauding some residents of Mumbai and the surrounding areas by offering to sell them foreign money at a discount in exchange for blank pieces of paper that looked like banknotes, according to police.
The accused, including two women, are found to be living in India without valid documents, senior police inspector (crime branch) Pramod Badakh said. He said a 64-year-old man from Virar in Palghar district became the latest victim of the gang.
The gang befriended the man and offered to sell him Dirhams and USD at a discount and took Rs 4 lakh from him. They gave him a bundle of blank papers resembling currencies, according to police. Police traced the quartet based on technical intelligence and tip-offs and seized from them Dirhams worth Rs 1,41,500 in Indian currency. The gang had allegedly cheated a man from suburban Santacruz in Mumbai of Rs 1 lakh in a similar manner, the crime branch officer said.