Fraud involving counterfeit currency is not uncommon, and such scams are usually meticulously planned. Counterfeit notes are crafted in a way that makes them hard to detect. Even businesses take various precautions to avoid falling victim to these scams. Nowadays, machines that identify counterfeit notes are widely available, especially in gold shops where these frauds occur more frequently. As a result, transactions in such shops are double-checked, and any suspicion leads to rejection of the notes. However, a shocking incident took place in Gujarat recently, where a group of seasoned fraudsters tricked a gold shop owner.
In Ahmedabad, Gujarat, Mehul Thakkar, a gold and silver trader, received a call on September 23 from the manager of Lakshmi Jewellers, with whom he was acquainted. The manager requested 2 kilograms of gold for a third party. The next day, on September 24, the manager called again, stating that the buyer urgently needed the gold. Due to technical issues with RTGS (Real-Time Gross Settlement), the manager explained that the customer would provide a security deposit in cash and transfer the remaining amount later. Thakkar agreed to the arrangement. The manager then instructed Thakkar to send the gold to a traditional money courier (Angadia) firm in the Navrangpura area. Trusting the manager, Thakkar sent one of his employees to deliver the gold. The employee handed over the gold to three individuals and returned with ₹1.5 crore as the security deposit.
Upon examining the deposit money, Thakkar and his employee realized they had been scammed—the entire amount consisted of counterfeit notes. All the ₹500 notes were fake. The most bizarre part? Instead of Mahatma Gandhi’s image, the notes featured Bollywood actor Anupam Kher’s picture, and where it should have said “State Bank of India (SBI),” it read “Star Bank of India.”
Shocked by the discovery, Thakkar immediately contacted the manager of Lakshmi Jewellers to inform him of the fraud. Together, they tried calling the third-party buyers, but by then, the fraudsters had disappeared, switched off their phones, and vanished without a trace. It was later revealed that the Angadia firm referenced by the fraudsters was also fake. Realizing the extent of the scam, Thakkar lodged a complaint with the Ahmedabad police.