Appointment scam: Four arrested for impersonation

Three men, woman were held for promising early appointments in exchange for money.

ISLAMABAD:

The police on Wednesday busted a gang of four people who were scamming people at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS).

Talking to The Express Tribune, a police official at Margalla Police Station said the Pims administration had filed a complaint, based on which the police raided a house where the gang members were hiding out and arrested them.

The official said an investigation is underway to determine if anyone else was involved.

Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto (SZAB) Medical University Vice-Chancellor Professor Javed Akram informed The Express Tribune that a woman calling herself Dr Aneela and three male accomplices — Abdullah, Waqas, and an unidentified security guard at the hospital — were looting patients on hospital premises for the last 10 days.

He said she would pretend to be a hospital employee and convince sick people to pay her so that she could get them early appointments with senior doctors.

The other gang members were helping her by providing fake appointment letters from the hospital to the victims, he said.

Prof Akram said that after receiving a number of complaints about the gang, the hospital administration investigated the matter internally before lodging an FIR.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 22^nd, 2014.