Scam

Handwara, Jan 08: In a major breakthrough, Handwara police on Monday said to have dismantled a cheaters gang orchestrating a honey trap scheme, preying on unsuspecting individuals across North and Central Kashmir.

The accused, operating in areas such as Baramulla, Bandipora, Handwara, Ganderbal, and Srinagar, exploited innocent people by deceitfully promising government jobs, arranging fraudulent marriages, and offering fake inverter schemes, police said in a statement.

“The perpetrators, posing as doctors, engineers, and government employees seeking marriage, manipulated their victims with various modus operandi, accumulating substantial sums, particularly from vulnerable segments of society,” police said.

“The fraudulent activities included promising government jobs, orchestrating sham marriage proposals, and a deceptive inverter scheme. In the latter, the accused, masquerading as Engineers from the Power Development Department, duped individuals into paying an advance of 4200 Rupees for inverters purportedly provided by the department,” police said.

“Promptly responding to the issue, Handwara police registered Case FIR No. 01/2024 under relevant sections of the law at the Kralgund police station, The investigation is in its early stages, and further arrests are anticipated as authorities work diligently to dismantle the entire network. The crackdown on these fraudulent activities underscores the commitment of law enforcement to safeguard the public from such deceptive practices,” the statement added.(KNO)