K'taka: Hi-tech cheat dupes banks of Rs 64 lakh

Bangalore, Aug 7: A 27-year-old woman, who cheated multinational banks of Rs 64 lakh using technology to the hilt, is now cooling her heels.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central Range) B N S Reddy told newspersons here today, Hemalatha collected photographs of the girls who came to stay at her paying guest accomodation citing security reasons.

Using the photographs, she faked appointment letters of IT major Wipro using computers. Later, she managed to get the original driving licences, PAN cards and visiting cards in the names of the girls who had left her home by that time.

Producing the original documents, she opened accounts in banks like ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank and applied for personal loans in their names.

The DCP said Hemalatha used the outsourcing firms hired by the banks to her advantage by opening the accounts at her door step after handing over the documents saying the applicant had gone to work and she was asked to handover the documents.

Similarly, she also got personal loans sanctioned and deposited in the accounts and then withdrew the money using debit cards.

Hemalatha used to pay the first three instalments and then default.After the banks initiated steps to find out the whereabouts of the account holders, the racket came to light.

She and her accomplice Suresh, together planned to cash in on the loopholes in the banks,' outsourcing methods and duped them after a meticulous operation, Mr Reddy said.

''We are on the look out for Suresh and will find out in how many other places she used the technique to dupe other banks,'' he added.

Computers, printers, scanners used to prepare fake appointment letters were seized. Hemalatha was remanded to police custody.

UNI