Saving gullible people from falling prey to scamsters, the Rural Police arrested four members of a gang involved in selling fake gold as true here on Monday.

Police also seized Rs12 lakh in cash and five counterfeit gold biscuits from the accused.

According to the SP Narasimha, a case was filed on December 6 when one Surya Narayana Venkateshwara Rao of Hanamkonda lodged a complaint with Suryapet Rural Police. He reported that the accused Nageshwar Rao, Naresh, Adinarayana and Srinivasa Rao, along with others, had duped him of Rs 12 lakh by selling him fake gold.

Based on the complaint, police registered a case and started investigation.

During routine vehicle checks near the Balemla flyover on the Khammam National Highway, officers noticed suspicious movement around a car. While a few suspects fled, four men were caught and detained.

They were identified as Irri Naresh of Huzurnagar, and Adinarayana, Yogi Reddy and Pitta Nagireddy of Prakasam and Palnadu districts in Andhra Pradesh.

The investigation revealed a well-planned scam. On November 25, Naresh was contacted by a man named Sudhakar, who claimed that Nageshwar Rao had gold to sell at a low price, promising commission for resale. Naresh agreed and later met Sudhakar and others at Suryapet.

They all went to the house of Nageshwar Rao in Balemla, where he showed them fake gold biscuits weighing 20 grams each.

Naresh knew the gold was fake, but still introduced an auto driver named Kannayya to help sell it. Kannayya, unaware of the scam, convinced passengers Venkateshwara Rao and Leela from Hanamkonda to buy the gold at the promised rate of 90,000 per tola.

On December 6, the victims were taken to Balemla, where the gang collected Rs12 lakh from them in exchange for five fake gold biscuits, promising to deliver five more after receiving the remaining amount.

On December 8, Nageshwar Rao told Naresh to bring the money to Balemla flyover. Acting on intelligence, police reached the spot, detained the suspects and recovered the cash and fake biscuits.

The SP cautioned the public not to fall for offers of gold at unusually low prices. He said genuine gold never comes cheap and urged people to alert the police immediately if anyone tries to sell gold at suspicious rates.