The material that was shown to the victims as iridium
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The Crime Branch-CID of the Tamil Nadu police has exposed a nationwide syndicate of conmen that lured people by making false claims of high returns of investments through the sale of iridium and cheated them to the tune of a few hundreds of crores of rupees.
Searches were conducted across Tamil Nadu and Karnataka on Friday (September 12, 2025), leading to the arrest of at least 17 suspects. The agency had already arrested 13 accused persons who gave specific leads to the modus operandi and network of criminals. Preliminary inquiries revealed that the gang was involved in defrauding the public by misusing the name of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
The syndicate, spread into several teams across Tamil Nadu, made their target clients believe that investment on iridium, the sales and transactions of which would happen abroad, would yield huge returns. Claiming that the entire business had the approval of the RBI, the accused even opened email accounts for the victims, which looked like those linked to the central bank.
Fake certification
After convincing the people that an investment of ₹5 lakh would fetch a return of ₹5 crore within a stipulated time, the accused took them in groups to open bank accounts exclusively for the purpose. They would even show a photo of the iridium with a fake certification from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) that would be sold in the international market. The large number of people who invested money in the bank accounts got email acknowledgement from fake RBI accounts confirming their contribution. Once the money was invested, it vanished and never came back.
“We suspect that about 1 lakh people have been cheated in Tamil Nadu alone with the quantum of losses running to a few hundreds of crores of rupees. The accused approached some victims who were preparing to lodge police complaints and partly settled their money. Many victims who lost big money are hesitant to lodge complaints for various reasons,” a CB-CID official said.
There was no iridium or any related transaction that happened in reality. To win the confidence of suspecting individuals, the accused took some of them to the RBI offices in Chennai, Mumbai, and Delhi as visitors and also introduced them to their accomplices posing as senior RBI officers in nearby luxury hotels. The cost of travel and accommodation in such cases was borne by the victims, the official who did not want to be quoted said.
Suo motu action
Acting on reliable information, the CB-CID took suo motu action and registered 13 cases in various cities/districts in the State. Special teams conducted searches at 47 locations in Tamil Nadu and neighbouring States on Friday and seized incriminating evidence relating to the scam.
“The magnitude of the offence seems large-scale. We appeal to victims who lost their money in the scam to come forward and lodge complaints. Investigation is continuing to trace other members of the syndicate and their financial network,” Inspector-General of Police, CBCID, T.S. Anbu who led the operation told The Hindu on Saturday (September 13).
Published – September 13, 2025 12:05 pm IST
