Ex-insurance staff held for Rs 24L loan scam using customer data

MUMBAI: A former employee of a private insurance company and his associate were arrested from Panipat, Haryana, for allegedly cheating the organisation of Rs 24 lakh through fraudulent online loans. Police said the prime accused, Imran Khan, visited the homes of policy holders, accessed OTPs from their phones, and altered their bank details and phone numbers in the company’s system to secure loans in their names. The loans were diverted to mule accounts. Khan was previously booked in a murder case in Haryana, police said.

The fraud surfaced in Sept 2025 after a policy holder from Gurugram alerted the company about receiving SMS notifications for a loan he had never applied for. During an internal probe, the company’s fraud control team learnt that Khan and another employee, Anjali Rani, had visited the customer’s residence between July 26 and 28.

The duo allegedly advised him to switch to another policy and took his phone from him under the pretext of fulfilling procedures.

Investigators discovered that a loan had been fraudulently processed in the customer’s name and the funds never reached him. They found 15 such loans had been sanctioned in the names of different customers.

When the company sought explanations from Khan and Rani, both were found missing and their phones switched off.Police said the two had worked at the company’s Gurugram office for less than six months.

Khan and Rani fraudulently obtained OTPs from customers' phones and generated TPINs to change customers’ registered mobile numbers and email IDs in the company’s system. They also altered the linked bank account details.

As part of the verification process, the company transferred Re 1 to the newly added accounts before disbursing the full loan amounts. However, transaction alerts were received by the accused because the customers’ phone numbers had already been changed in the system. The accused then convinced the company that the modified bank account details were genuine and got theloans credited to mule accounts.

Following a complaint, the West Cyber Police in Mumbai, where the company is headquartered, registered an FIR. While Rani is yet to be arrested, police tracked down Khan and another associate, Pulkit Sharma, who allegedly arranged mule accounts for the operation. Both were arrested and brought to Mumbai on transit remand.

Police seized three mobile phones, six cheque books and two passbooks from the accused. The investigation is being supervised by DCP Bajrang Bansode and senior inspector Suvarna Shinde, with assistant inspector Nitin Gacche and sub-inspector Deepak Tayade part of the probe team.