Gold pot fraud: 10 held

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Quick money continues to lure gullible Malayalees as fraudsters abound, promising stashed-away millions from Nigeria, silver owls, magical golden yams and the pick of the season - antique gold pots with magical powers.A day after the city police nabbed a gang of tricksters who specialised in luring middle class families with the promise of the last-mentioned, an ancient ‘gold pot’ which purportedly cost crores of rupees in the international market, one more victim approached the police with a similar complaint.The complainant from Aryanad accused another group of people of cheating him after promising him a gold pot. On Saturday, a special team of the city police had arrested ten key members of an inter-state gang that specialises in the ‘Gold Pot Fraud’. They were identified as Sathyanesan and Sam Prakash of Kattakkada, Mani Swami alias Manikantan of Trichy, Nallamuthu, Shyamala, Panchu, Sujith Kumar alias Sebastian of Poovar, Robert of Neyyattinkara, Anil Kumar of Aralummmoodu, Anil Kumar of Kalliyoor and Justin Raj of Thirupuram. Sathyaneshan was convicted earlier for forging an RC Book, police said.The gold pot fraud hinges chiefly on the greed and gullibility of middle class families, according to the police. The gangs have a multi-layered modus operandi with members donning different roles to convince the victim of the provenance of the said pot.In the arrested gang’s case, they convinced their victims of a family in Trichy which possessed the antique, priceless pot. Of course, the said family was unaware of the true value of the item and the victim could have it for a few lakhs. In the international market, the pot went by the cryptic moniker of ‘Rice Puller.’Once a ‘customer’ is trapped, he is taken to a secret location in Tamil Nadu, where he is shown the pot accompanied by a handful of magic tricks which serve as additional proof that it indeed has magical powers. Once the lakhs are handed over, the gang does the proverbial disappearing act.‘’Such gangs have different levels. The first one approaches a prospective customer, another convinces him and there are the so-called antique experts etc etc. We found that the same person had called victims claiming that he was from Germany, and on another occasion, somebody from Bangalore,’’ said CI Jawahar Janardh, who was part of City Police Commissioner Manoj Abraham’s special team which made Saturday’s arrests. Assistant Commissioners Vimal and Vijayan were the other leaders of the investigation.Following a tip-off, the city police had laid a trap for the gang, posing as customers. Subsequent interrogation revealed that they had cheated several people. ‘’The victims usually don’t come forward fearing ridicule. In one such case where the victim did not file a complaint, it is said the victim actually lost over Rs 50 lakh,’’ Jawahar Janardh said.City police are planning a more detailed investigation into such frauds, according to a statement issued here.