Three men were arrested in Bengaluru by the Central Crime Branch for duping techies with high net worth. According to the CCB, the three men masqueraded as fund managers and conned the techies. The three detainees are Stephen Johns (35), Kalakere Raghavendra (34) and Manjunath (43).
The CCB recovered real estate properties valued around Rs 8 crore and three high-end cars like BMWs and Audis from the three. The police further added that the accused had their own ‘share marketing company’ that was closed down by them after they carried out a series of frauds.
Johns and Raghavendra targeted gullible IT professionals, said the police in the statement. “The accused looked at gullible IT professionals who also had good net worth and wanted to invest their ‘excess money’ in shares, debentures or mutual funds,” said the police while talking about the group's modus operandi. They further added that the three persons then met them and introduced themselves as share brokers or fund managers of reputed banks.
The statement further clarified that the accused also used to lure the techies into taking hefty loans from private banks to invest the amount in shares. They assured them that their money invested will double in a short while, and many fell prey to the con.
The police further added that to impress the gullible investors, the conmen met them at top restaurants or in the luxurious cars they owned.
“Satish, a software engineer, had a while ago registered a formal complaint with Chandra Layout Police. The case was later referred to the CCB and thus began their trail. All three have been arrested and the high values real estate properties registered under their name have been seized,” the police said.