A brother and sister have been arrested in India for printing fake money and scamming people during the “demonetisation” period issued by the government.
The government in India made an announcement to strip money of its legal tender (demonetisation), reported Merinews, which added that this caused panic for many who had hoarded large amounts at home, and in desperation they “rushed to agents who illegally convert black money into white money”, for which they charge large commissions.
During the panic, those wanting to change their cash failed to check the “authenticity of the agents” changing their money, and some got caught out with “fake currency notes”. Abhinav Verna, 21 year old, and his sister Vishakha Verma, 20 years old, were said to have thought that they could make money from the situation, the site added, and began scanning some new notes and distributing them, but after reportedly seeing how easy it was decided to print more and more notes, they supplied Rs 2,000 ($29/€27) notes, which were worth Rs two crore ($293,418/€275,549) to the people hoarding black money.
The two even allegedly managed to buy a second hand Audi worth Rs 20 lakh ($29,341/€27,554) with fake money that they had scanned and printed in their office. Investigators in Chandigarh discovered fake currency worth Rs three crore ($440,127/€413,324) when they searched the office, and said that the pair had managed to dupe six black “money hoarders”. Both are now in police custody under investigation, and the police are looking for the money hoarders who may have been affected.
Abhinav Verma, was “once a mascot for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet project Make in India”, and was also famous for his “Live Braille”, which is a “device to help the vision-impaired to walk without a walking stick”.