Beware the magic pens, they could empty your accounts

The Financial Express dated February 5, 2012, reported that two former private bank employees have been arrested for allegedly cheating people on the pretext of reviving insurance policy accounts that had become inactive due to non-payment of installments.

Police said the accused — Ravi Kumar and Vinish — used a ‘magic pen’ for the purpose. Besides cheating people, they have also been charged with stealing important data from the Kotak Mahindra Bank.

The incident came to light after one Mahabir Singh lodged a complaint in December, accusing the duo of cheating him. Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Chhaya Sharma said, “The two were nabbed near IIPM College in South Delhi. The duo used to steal important data from Kotak Mahindra Bank, with which they were earlier employed, and cheat customers. After cheating over 50 people of more than Rs 15 lakh, they gambled the money away.”

According to the complaint, Singh’s Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance Policy had closed due to non-payment of installments. The duo allegedly approached Singh and convinced him to sign documents with a pen that contained disappearing ink.

Singh had handed over three signed cheques — one for Rs 45,000, another for Rs 3,000 and the third cancelled — to the accused for account verification. The accused provided him with a photocopy of the same. “However, when Singh later checked his account balance, he found that the two cheques issued by him had been debited. He then approached the Fatehpur Beri police station.
A trap was laid to nab the accused, with the help of a decoy customer. During questioning the duo confessed that they had been “exploiting loopholes in the Kotak Mahindra Bank’s banking system”.

After making calls to defaulters, they would fix appointments with them. “Once they had filled the amount using the magic pen, they would make the victims sign the cheques with an actual pen. After that, they would write larger amounts and their own account numbers on the cheques,” Sharma said.

Police recovered a cancelled cheque, 12 fake SIM cards, a counterfeit ID card of the Kotak Mahindra Bank, four cellphones, 15 sets of application forms and nine cheques from their possession.

CAUTION: Whenever someone ask you to sign important documents and cheques, please ensure to use your own pen for writing or signing otherwise you could get cheated.