The Nuwara Eliya Police arrested a person who pretended to be the Malwathu Mahanayake Thera and defrauded millions of rupees from a large number of people while promising them lucrative overseas employment and educational opportunities.
The fraudster it is said had only contacted people through phone calls. The suspect 51, a resident of Galle after being presented to the Nuwara Eliya Magistrate’s Courts has been remanded until the October 12.
Inspector Premalal Hettiarachchi said that the suspect was arrested based on a complaint that he had fraudulently obtained Rs.137,000 from a person in Sandathenne area of Nuwara Eliya.
Police said the suspect used to call rich people based on the advertisements published in the national newspapers regarding the sale of land and property and while pretending to be the Malwathu Nayaka Thera had befriended them saying his brothers and sisters resided in Australia and that a friend was working at the High Commission of Australia and he wanted to buy a land and a house for his brother. After developing a friendship he had told them that he can send them and their family members to Australia either for work or education without charging any money.
It has been revealed in Police investigations that for those willing to go to Australia the suspect had asked for Rs.130,000 for registration purposes and had asked victims to credit the money to a bank account.
It has been revealed from the preliminary investigations that the suspect had also asked for national identity card copies with the money and had bought between 100 and 120 SIM cards using the ID details for his fraudulent activities.
When the suspect was arrested, Police found 11 phones, a tab machine, internet access equipment, a large amount of receipts for depositing money into bank accounts, a stock of official emblems made with different names, several books used to write down phone numbers and visiting cards.
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