Small-time swindlers at large

KOCHI: The Thiruvananthapuram city witnessed several small-time money swindlers who managed to dupe comparatively small amounts of money from investors following the ‘Total 4 U’ expose. While Sabarinath played big and swindled over Rs 200 crore from his investors, the money duped by small-time swindlers ranged in just lakhs. A case registered at the Vanchiyoor Police Station a few months ago throws light on the prevalence of fraudulent schemes. The accused had coaxed his victims to invest money in gold ornaments pledged in new generation banks. The idea was to buy the gold ornaments when the banks put them for auction whenever the real owners fail to repay the loan. He convinced his victims that huge profit can be made by obtaining the ornaments through bidding and selling them at a high price. Since the amount of gold involved is huge, the profit gained will be huge too, he managed to convince the investors.Unlike Sabarinath, the victims of small-time swindlers comprised young people. However, the inevitable happened. After gaining the trust of his investors by returning handsome profits in the initial dealings, the swindler planned for one big deal in which he convinced his investors to invest the maximum amounts. After raising Rs 60 lakh, the swindler just vanished. Even though the victims filed a complaint before the police after waiting for months for his return, the investigation did not take off owing to the alleged connections between the accused and the police department.