Metropolitan Crime Division, Teku on Sunday night arrested two members of a gang that defrauded people by asking them to deposit millions in their account to “help them secure US visas.”

According to police, the duo was arrested after Sanumaya Lama, 37 of Tarakeshwor, Kathmandu, filed a complaint at the crime division, saying that a person “applying for a US visa” defrauded her of Rs 6 million. The person asked her to transfer Rs 6 million to his account so that he could present his bank details with his US visa application, said Lama.

Acting on the complaint, police arrested Ram Chandra Kunwar (34), a resident of Baglung currently living in Lalitpur and Ganesh Lama (34), a resident of Kavre also living in Lalitpur. They were arrested in Bhaktapur.

Upon interrogation, it was revealed that Kunwar, Lama and three other members of the gang scoured for people with millions of rupees in the bank. After getting in touch with such people and winning their trust, the gang would convince them to deposit money in their account “for a few days”. They would say that they needed the money in their account to apply for a US visa, said Inspector Kumar Pandit, an officer at Metropolitan Crime Division, Teku.

“After the money was deposited, they would withdraw the money and disappear,” Pandit told the Post. “Even in Lama’s case, Kunwar convinced her to deposit Rs 6 million for a day so that he could apply for a US visa. But when Lama deposited the amount, five people withdrew the money from different branches of the bank,” he said.

“We are looking for the other three members of their gang,” said Pandit.

Investigation showed that this was not the only fraud case the gang was involved in. Members of the gang were found to have duped another person into depositing Rs 7 million in their account, said Metropolitan Crime Division Superintendent Mukesh Kumar Singh.

The number of fraud cases in Nepal has risen steadily over the past few years. According to Nepal Police Headquarters, 368 cases related to fraud were recorded in the country 2016/17. The number rose to 542 in 2017/18 and to 627 in 2018/19.

“Many cases related to fraud are settled by the victim and the fraudsters after police arrest the culprit,” said Deputy Superintendent Hobindra Bogati, spokesperson for the Kathmandu Metropolitan Police Range. “They are released after a settlement is reached. This could also be the reason behind the rise in the number of fraud cases,” said Bogati.