After Nigerian lottery, gold bonanza calls fleece people

AHMEDABAD: If you have got used to fake Nigerian fortune mails and SMSes either announcing a lottery win or helping fund transfer for a millionaire you won't be surprised if get a call on your mobile phones with the caller trying to lure you to buy ancient' gold at less than half the current gold rate. Five such calls have been reported so far from the city.
This caller, Rajiv Sharma or Raju cleverly introduces himself as a friend of one of your acquaintances you might not remember.Then he goes on to explain that he has stumbled upon 12 to 15 kg old gold coins while digging in his field in Punjab. While to some he has claimed that he has gold bricks which he wishes to sell in the black market for half the price.
Shalini Shah, 35, a chartered accountant recently got a call on her mobile from Rajiv on Saturday, "I kept asking him how did he get my number. He said he had contact details of genuine gold buyers and asked me to get back to him if I was interested."
Another target Shreepal Patel a businessman was given an offer to buy gold bricks. "I was told that a certain truck driver had given my number. I felt suspicious when he said that he has ancient gold bricks and the rate were way too low to be genuine," said Shreepal.
If you get lured to the deal, Sharma would ask you to come to Jakhopur, a village near Bhratapur in Gurgaon in Haryana. "I will make all arrangements for your stay. You can bring just one person, a goldsmith to check the quality of the coins," Rajiv told TOI over the phone recently.
What is more scary is the fact that Rajiv admitted to having procured the number of his targets from the internet. These mobile numbers were of small and medium scale businessmen who would display their wares and put their mobile numbers for business purposes or to widen their network. Besides, Rajiv's would call people who put their numbers on their blog sites. Rajiv would do a random search by typing the initial numbers of any Gujarat mobile number, like 98240-', 98980-' etc.