Fake Visa Scam Busted, Mastermind Held In Surat
The accused, Pratik aka Abhijeet Shah, is a habitual offender facing 12 cases related to visa and passport fraud.
Police on Tuesday claimed to have busted a fake visa scam by arresting an engineer from Surat who allegedly provided fake visa stickers of the UK, Canada, and other European countries to Delhi-based travel agents, an official said.
These meticulously-designed stickers were used by travel agents to dupe customers by claiming that their applications had been approved by the country concerned and visas delivered, according to a release issued by the Surat Police.
The accused, Pratik aka Abhijeet Shah, is a habitual offender facing 12 cases related to visa and passport fraud.
Special Operations Group personnel found an elaborate setup Shah had created to design and print a real-looking visa after raiding his flat in Rander area.
Police found a laptop, printer, and a cutting machine, five fake visas, a UV laser torch, an emboss machine, and over 500 pieces of blank papers with watermarks of the governments of the UK, Canada, Serbia, Macedonia, and other European nations, the release said.
Shah had imported these papers bearing watermarks using the Chinese application Alibaba.com. He used them to create an impression that the visa is a genuine one and issued by the respective country, said Deputy Commissioner of Police, SOG, Rajdeepsinh Nakum.
"Shah holds a Diploma in Electrical Engineering and knows how to design software like CorelDRAW. He was in contact with some shoddy travel agents in Delhi involved in illegal immigration. When agents can't secure a valid visa for their client, they used to contact Shah and ask him to create a fake visa," said Nakum.
Shah used to charge Rs 15,000 for creating a fake document, he said, and claimed that Shah had admitted to having created and delivered nearly 700 such visa stickers in ten years.
"The sticker used to give the impression of a genuine visa. The visa holder would realise that he was cheated after landing in the country of travel," the police officer said.
Police have sought information from Indian embassies in some countries to understand the number of travellers who were stopped for holding fake visas.
