Mumbai: They went for free medical check-up, and all they got was fake loan in their name

The people were conned into giving their IDs and other documents for the free mediclaim by Medirecs Healthcare And Research Private Limited. Representation pic; (centre and right) screenshots of rants against Medirecs by those duped

Before you submit copies of your ID cards or other documents to attend events, etc, be extra cautious. The Borivli police lodged an FIR on Saturday against officials of a health care company that had taken copies of important documents of people on the pretext of providing them free mediclaim. The fraudsters then used the papers to take loans of Rs 1.55 crore.

The fraudsters had even held a free health check-up camp for 287 people for the mediclaim. The Borivli police have launched a manhunt for the six people who have fled, including two employees of a finance company, for creating fake customers for the healthcare company and taking the loans.

Medirecs was shut in 2019 and its owners fled. File pic

According to the Borivli police, the owners of Medirecs Healthcare And Research Private Limited, had arranged a free mediclaim policy camp and health check-up at their office at Ganjawala Lane, Borivli west between the years 2018 and 2019. They tied up with a finance company for the same. "Around 287 people attended the camp and after taking copies of their documents, the company owners applied for mediclaim policy loans on their behalf. They then fled with the loan amount after closing the office in 2019," said a police officer. The officer said initially Medirecs paid two-three EMIs of the policies. The police said for this they had even bought 287 SIMs and fed OTPs they received on them, for the loans.

The police said when the vigilance team of the finance company realised that monthly installments of 287 people were pending since 2018-2019, they contacted them. It took a while as they did not have their genuine mobile phone numbers (the numbers given were by Mederics). Personnel were sent to the addresses of all the 287 people, who denied taking any loan from the company for health care issues.

Screen shot of a duped person's rant against Merdirecs on the internet

"They told the company officials that they had not taken any loan, but had submitted their documents during a health check-up camp arranged by Medirecs for free mediclaim," said another police officer.

When vigilance officers realised that they had been duped by Medirecs, they went to its office but it was locked. Other shop owners nearby told them that company had been shut. They then approached the police and lodged a complaint in 2019. After an investigation an FIR was lodged on Saturday in the case.

‘Won't get a loan now'

"I told the recovery agents that I have not taken any loan. They then gave me the details, and I realised the health care company had taken this loan in our names by misusing our documents. Some of us who were duped immediately wrote to the police," said Vasant Sapkal, 52, of Gorai, one of the victims of the scam. He said Medirecs took our documents including ids and crossed cheques. They were told they won't have to pay EMIs for the mediclaim for a year. Medirecs paid three of the EMIs before its officials shut shop and fled. That is when the EMIs began to be taken from the victims' bank accounts, throwing light on the fraud.

He said, "Due to lack of balance in my account, the EMI bounced, due to which the bank's CIBIL score suffered. Now the bank is refusing to give us loans. My four colleagues Ashok More, Vikram Lotekar, Sanjay Molashi, Sagar Kadam, and several customers of the co-operative bank that I work for are also suffering due to this," added Sapkal.

Finance firm staff charged

"We have registered a case of cheating and forgery against the CEO and directors of the Medirecs Healthcare and Research Pvt Ltd company, identified as Rajan Bhatia, Arvind Thakar, Bhavin Bhatia, and Rajesh Jethwa. We have also charged the employees of the finance company identified as Nitish Singh and Deepak Ban, for their involvement in the fraud. They processed the documents," said Senior Inspector Ninad Sawant from Borivli police station. The police said all the accused have fled.

An official of the finance company refused to comment on the complaint, saying he would get back to this reporter after speaking to superiors.