New Delhi. A case of fraud has come to light in the Karol Bagh area of the country’s capital, which is famous throughout North India for mobile accessories and gadgets, which has shocked the buyers of branded mobiles. The Central District Special Staff Team of Delhi Police, while conducting a raid on the basis of a secret information, has busted a huge gang manufacturing and selling fake Samsung premium mobile phones. The special thing is that the leader of this gang is eighth pass. The eighth pass man was managing the mobile manufacturing company Samsung. But Delhi Police has not only seized more than 512 ready-made phones from that person, but has also exposed the factory where these phones were being given the original look.
‘China’ trap in the streets of Bedanpura Police was getting inputs for a long time that some people are secretly cloning premium mobile phones in the crowded streets of Bedanpura area of Karol Bagh. When the special staff proceeded with their investigation, they found a shop where the door was always closed, but sounds of electronic equipment working were heard from inside. When the police raided there, even the officers were stunned to see the scene. There, Samsung’s most expensive models like ‘S-24 Ultra’, ‘Galaxy Fold’ and ‘Flip’ series phones were being assembled indiscriminately.
Mobile worth Rs 1.5 lakh for Rs 35000
8th pass ‘brain’ and Chinese parts The leader of this entire gang is a person named ‘Hakeem’, who is only 8th pass. Despite having less education, Hakeem was so technically astute that he had set up a complete network of procuring mobile parts from China. The accused used to get motherboard, screen, battery and body panel from China. In this small shop of Bedanpura, Mehtab Ahmed Ansari, Ravi Ahuja and Rahul used to assemble these parts along with Hakim.
Mobile is fake but looks real
The biggest trick of these swindlers was the ‘IMEI’ number. They used to fraudulently print the IMEI number used to identify mobile phones. Police have found 459 fake IMEI stickers from the spot. These stickers were pasted on the back and box of the phone in such a way that no common customer could see them and say that the phone is fake. The hoax of ‘premium’ deal for Rs 35 thousand. The price of genuine phones of Samsung’s Ultra and Fold series in the market ranges from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.60 lakh. Hakim and his gang used to sell these fake phones to people for just Rs 35,000 to Rs 40,000 by calling them ‘open box sale’ or ‘imported units’.
People were getting trapped in the greed of low price
People easily fall into their trap due to the greed of getting expensive and premium phones at low prices. The accused told during interrogation that they not only sold these phones on the footpaths of Karol Bagh, but also defrauded customers through online classified websites. During the raid, Delhi Police recovered 512 ready-made fake premium mobile phones from the spot. Apart from this, 124 high-tech motherboards, 138 batteries and many special tools used to assemble mobiles have also been seized.
The Central District Police has registered a case against Hakeem, Mehtab, Ravi and Rahul at Karol Bagh police station under various sections of the Copyright Act and fraud. DCP Central said that now investigation is being done to find out how many people the accused have sold these fake phones to. Besides, those courier companies and suppliers who were helping the gang in bringing these illegal parts from China are also being identified. The police have also appealed to the general public to always buy mobile phones from authorized stores and not to buy phones from any unknown person due to the lure of huge discounts. This gang was not only causing financial loss, but was also posing a major threat to the safety of customers by using fake batteries.
