Mumbai Crime: Woman duped of Rs 23 lakh with fake mediclaim policies

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The Goregaon police have filed a case of cheating against unknown persons for duping a 60-year-old woman of about Rs 23 lakh. While a man claiming to be from a reputed bank cheated her of Rs 3.7 lakh by selling her fake mediclaim policies, a woman duped her of R19.23 lakh by claiming to an employee of the insurance regulatory body of India.

The victim of the fraud works as a senior assistant manager at a government-run petroleum company. She looks after her octogenarian parents who are bed-ridden and was looking for a mediclaim policy to take care of the expenses when one Vikas Chavhan called her in April 2016.

In her complaint to the police, she said that Chavhan sold her a policy for which she paid Rs 2.79 in three installments. He again sold her a policy worth Rs 97,215 in October 2016 and told her that she can avail the benefits in a year.

However, Chavhan started to ignore her calls after all the payments were made, prompting her to check the related documents. She then discovered that he had sold her pension plans, not mediclaim policies.

"I called up Chavhan to ask why he cheated me and he said he has left the company and now a woman named Devika will take care of her policies" the woman said in her complaint.

Devika called the woman in December 2016 told her that she works at Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India and that she is investigating a misdeed committed by Chavhan. Devika then asked the complainant to send her Rs 19.23 lakh as the investigation fee and premium fee. The woman then registered a police complaint on the advise of a friend.

"We have filed a case against unknown persons under IPC 120B (criminal intimidation), 170 (personating a Public servant), 419 (cheating by impersonation), 420 (cheating), 464 (making false document), 465 (forgery) and 34 (common intention)" said an officer from Goregaon police station.

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