Mumbai crime: 'Relative' cons 12-year-old into handing over gold chain

A woman has found a new way to con people of their hard-earned money. The woman, who is in her 30s, specifically enters houses where there are only children and senior citizens and swindles them of cash and kind by posing as their relative. In one such incident, on Monday, the woman visited a 12-year-old girl who was alone at her home in Indira Nagar, Dahisar (West).

The sketch of the woman prepared by the cops. The woman has been targeting senior citizens and children, pretending to be a family member to con her victims

Con-vincing
Her parents had gone to work. The accused came in and told the girl that she was her father's relative. She told the girl that he had asked that she (the woman) be given some money and a gold chain. When the girl didn't believe the story, the woman immediately asked the child to give her father's mobile number. The con then pretended to make a call, in front of the daughter, and spoke in a manner that suggested that her father had given the permission for the valuables to be handed over.

Believing her, the girl handed over the gold chain. The cheat even made the child drop her off at the main road. The family found out later that she was a fraud and registered a complaint at the MHB police station. According to police officials, the woman is soft-spoken and has perfected the art of convincing her innocent targets to hand over the valuables. PSI Sandesh Palande of MHB police station said, "We have registered a case based on the complaint. With the help of the 12-year-old girl, we have also made a sketch of the accused woman."u00a0

Past cases
On further investigations, the police found that the woman had used a similar modus operandi. They said that there were 12 other cases of theft using the same method. Different cases had been registered in various police stations in the suburbs beyond Malad. "She has been active from the month of June," Palande further added. He requested people to be aware of the woman and not let her enter the house. "If the woman is found or seen somewhere, they should contact the police," he stated.u00a0