In the city of Mumbai there were several reports of crooks impersonating policemen committing petty crime. An elderly couple from my neighborhood were recently stopped on the way to a night party and conned of their jewelry by fake cops. Few would have suspected that these impersonations were actually an organized crime ring complete with its own fake academy to train cops. When the ring was busted and the racket exposed, I was amazed at the quality of management and practices used to commit these crimes.
For starters, each recruit was carefully selected based on their credentials which were height, build, basic education to pick up legal terms, command over the local language and confidence to pull off the role. Each fake cop was trained and equipped with police uniforms, id cards and hand cuffs. Trainees were shown how cops spoke, dressed, walked and where they ate. Before entry into the gang, trained recruits were sent on test runs to con women of their jewelry or extort money from hoteliers. Only if successful they were drafted into the gang. Those who did not make it were employed for hard crimes such as robberies, extortion and kidnapping.
Similar methods are used by criminals who indulge in cybercrime such as email scams.
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