This simple con cost Bengaluru businessmen ₹8 crore
FollowBengaluru police have nabbed a 45-year-old conman who duped city businessmen to the tune of ₹8 crore.
His modus operandi was remarkably simple. Thyagarajan, a native of Tamil Nadu, floated a company called Finway Capital three years ago and set up an office in Whitefield. He then approached several businessmen in the city and sweet-talked them, offering his services in securing large loans at low rates of interest.
The clincher was his claim that he could get these loans sanctioned without relevant documents or the pledging of assets. Bizarrely, he was successful in convincing his clients without evoking much suspicion.
To seal the deal, he collected a hefty fee from his clients for his services as an 'advance' - before the loan amount was sent to their accounts. As soon as the payment was made, Thyagarajan would vamoose.
Police investigations revealed that the conman ran another racket involving luxury cars.
Posing as a top executive working with an international bank, he would approach owners of luxury cars such as Mercedes-Benz, Audi and Range Rover across the city and show an interest in purchasing them.
He would take delivery of the cars paying a small advance and then disappear.
Thyagarajan had been staying in a rented house with his wife and daughter, paying a rent of ₹60,000, and ₹1.6 lakh for his Whitefield office.
There are currently 15 cases of fraud registered against Thyagarajan, across Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Kolkata. He is now in police custody.
