Tricking the police can be easier said than done. A gang in India got away with their fake police station for eight months before finally being caught by the actual police.
These fraudsters didn’t stop at just creating a fake police station, they took their scam to a whole new level by running it out of a hotel in Banka, India, that was 500 meters away from the real police headquarters. They even posed as actual officers wearing realistic uniforms, badges and firearms.
It’s believed that hundreds of people were scammed by this fake police department, as the gang requested bribes for registering complaints, helping them secure social housing or jobs in the police or otherwise solving their problems.
To make the police station seem more legitimate, the gang paid people from the surrounding rural area wages to pretend that they were working at the station. Who wouldn’t want to earn 500 rupees ($6.25) a day just to play pretend?
“We have heard cases of fake cops or investigating officers in the country. This is the first time we have heard of a fake police station,” a police officer said.
Clearly, the whole setup was so convincing that no one filed any complaints with the real police for eight months. That was until it all came crumbling down at the hands of Shambhu Yadav.
Yadav heads the real police station in Banka. He spotted two of the fake officers heading back to the fake station after they harassed shop owners at a shopping mall that was under construction. They reported to their station to have their spaces assigned to them.
The fake police officers had fake firearms instead of service-issued weapons, which caused Yadav to have more suspicion. He asked the two men where they were based and when they became evasive, he took them in for questioning at his police station.
The fake officers admitted to everything and eventually led Yadav and his team to their fake headquarters. Three other accomplices were apprehended during the raid. Each denied any wrongdoing and claimed they thought they were working for the actual police. The supposed gang leader is still on the loose. Who knows, it may take police another eight months to find him.