Cheque cloning gang busted, 5 arrested

NEW DELHI: A joint team of Delhi and UP Police busted a gang that allegedly cloned cheques and had till date duped their victims of at least ₹50 lakh.

Police arrested five gang members from Delhi and Allahabad over the past few days.

They said the gang of five took account details of their victims from their contacts in finance and courier companies.

Explaining their modus operandi, police said the gang would get original cheque books of the corresponding banks and tamper with the account numbers and name on the cheque. DCP South East Romil Baaniya said that the gang used softwares such as Coral Draw to tamper with the cheques.

DCP Baaniya said the five men were helped by the Cheque Truncation System (CTS) used for clearing cheques by banks. “In the CTS system, the cheque is not physically sent to the other bank. Only a scanned image is used. This reduces cheque clearance time and cost but restricts experienced hands from physically handling the cheque to detect frauds,” said Baaniya.

Explaining the modus operandi further, Baaniya said that one of the men Shoaib used to get details of accounts and cheques numbers through his contacts in finance or courier companies. Shoaib then sent these details through whatsapp to co-accused Akash “Akash used genuine cheques of the corresponding bank and changed vital details on cheque using Coral Draw and Laserjet printers. Cheque was then presented to bank,” said Baaniya.

The officer said the cloned cheques were then used to transfer money to a bank account, the five men had opened.