The fake currency seized by Dimapur police from the three accused.
DIMAPUR, SEPTEMBER 14 (MExN): Dimapur police have apprehended three persons who were smuggling fake Indian currency notes from Lakhimpur district of Assam to Dimapur.
The three were arrested on September 13 as they alighted from a bus at Blue Hill Station, Dimapur. A press note from the PRO, Dimapur Police informed that a case has been registered at East PS against the individuals and further investigation is on.
Police stated that the three were involved in the activity of exchanging counterfeit currency for genuine currency in ratios ranging from 1:5 to1:10. This ratio, police added has a tendency to rise during festivals like Diwali.
Explaining the modus operandi of such activities, Dimapur Police stated that the counterfeiters offer currency exchange deals to victims through the phone, whereby photos and videos of the machine printing the counterfeit currency are sent to the victims.
The fraudsters then reveal that there is a contact person (middleman) who can vouch for the transactions. Contact details of the contact person are then shared with the intended victims. The intended victims then contact the middleman to enquire on the authenticity or are contacted by the middleman, who vouches for the genuineness of the transaction and cites various examples of successful transactions to the extent of showing them samples of the counterfeit currency.
“Being convinced and assured of the returns, greed gets the better of them; the victims then arrange the money from whatever source, even to the extent of borrowing at a very high interest rate and travels to the fraudster’s location often accompanied by the middleman,” police said.
On reaching the location, the fraudster meets the victims where they are taken to a location and live demonstration of the printing of counterfeit currency is shown. Here genuine currency brought by the victims is exchanged with the counterfeit ones.
Police added that during the exchange the fraudsters provide the victims with sealed package of currency notes with few counterfeit currency notes visible at the top, with instruction that the package should not be opened for a few days “as premature opening of the package will lead to escape of important gas and thus the quality of counterfeit currency will be severely compromised.”
Police added that after the exchange, the victims return home only to find that while the first few layers comprise of counterfeit currency, the rest are plain paper.
Dimapur Police informed that there have been many unreported incident of such cases and warned citizens to be wary of such calls and not fall prey to fraudsters. It further cautioned that engaging with fake Indian currency notes in any form (whether making, selling, buying, receiving, using, possessing) is a serious offence under Indian Penal Code (IPC) and attracts severe punishment even to the extent of imprisonment for life.
