Tricksters con doctor in India into buying ‘Aladdin’s lamp’ for over $90,000

Gulf Today Report

There’s a sucker born every minute. So goes the saying. Nowhere is this more apt than when a con artist pulls the wool over the eyes of his gullible victim, bilking him of whopping sums of money in the process.

In India, cases of confidence tricks frequently come up before the police. In some cases, the culprits give the law the slip, but in quite a few they are arrested. Which happened with two men who duped a doctor into buying an ‘Aladdin’s lamp’ for $93,000, even conjuring up a fake genie.

Laeek Khan approached police in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh after he realised the lamp did not have any magical powers, as described in the popular folk tale about Aladdin and his wish-granting genie that appears when it is rubbed.

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"The cheats had struck a deal for much more but the doctor had paid about seven million rupees ($93,000)," Amit Rai, a senior officer told a section of the media.

The men have been nabbed. The wife of one of the men, who was also involved in the fraudulent act, is at large.

In his complaint, Khan said one of the men pretended to be an occultist and made a "jinn" – a supernatural figure – appear from the lamp, local media reported.

But when Khan asked if he could touch the genie or take the lamp home, they refused, saying it might cause him harm, the complaint stated.

Eventually they sold the lamp to him, promising it would shower a host of benefits on him, including health and good fortune.

Khan later twigged he had been conned, adding the "genie" was actually just one of the men in disguise.

The culprits had apparently cheated other families using the same modus operandi, raking in millions.