Date:01/04/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/04/01/stories/2007040120790500.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Old con gets new life

Incidents of conmen cheating elderly women of jewellery are on the rise, writes K.V. Subramanya

CHEATS IN the guise of "good Samaritan policemen" who had relieved several women, mainly senior citizens, of gold ornaments in the city are back on the prowl after a lull.

Posing as policemen, two youths on March 26 cheated an elderly woman and made away with her gold ornaments worth Rs. 50,000 in Ashoknagar police station limits.

Around 9.15 a.m. two men accosted Rathinam (62) on 1st Cross, Anepalya, off Neelasandra, and introduced themselves as policemen. They convinced her that robbers were targeting elderly women in the area and made her remove her gold chain and a pair of bangles. They wrapped the jewellery in a piece of paper and returned it to her.

After returning home Rathinam found that the packet contained only a few stones.

A few weeks ago, adopting the same ploy, a duo cheated another elderly woman and relieved her of a gold chain worth Rs. 30,000 in Basavanagudi police station limits.

Two youths approached Indiramma (74), a resident of Thyagarajanagar, while she was on her way to collect her husband's pension.

The two "policemen" made Indiramma to remove her gold chain, wrapped it in a paper and returned it to her. Later, Indiramma found that the packet contained two stones.

In the past three years, over a dozen such incidents have been reported from R.T. Nagar, Basavanagudi, Jayanagar, Yeshwanthapur, HAL, Vijayanagar and Koramangala police station limits. In all the incidents, except in the Koramangala case where two college students were relieved of their gold chains, the victims were elderly women.

After a series of such incidents, the police had arrested three Iranian youths settled in Guntakal in Andhra Pradesh. They had allegedly committed most of these crimes.

The police have some advice for the public to prevent such crimes. They say policemen would never ask people walking on the roads to remove their gold ornaments. "Even if you remove the valuables, do not give them to strangers. You yourself keep them in your bags or pockets," a senior official suggests.