Bengaluru, Jan 23 (IANS): The Bengaluru Central Crime Branch personnel have arrested three men, who in the guise of professional finance managers, duped high networth techies in the city, a statement said on Friday.

The CCB has recovered real estate properties valued around Rs 8 crore and three high-end cars like BMWs and Audis from the three, identified as Stephen Johns, 35, Kalakere Raghvendra, 34, and Manjunath, 43, all residents of Bengaluru.

"Johns and Raghvendra were always looking at gullible IT professionals, who are essentially high networth individuals, and wanted to invest their 'excess money' in shares, debentures or mutual funds. These accused persons used meet them and introduce themselves as share brokers/fund managers of reputed banks," the police said.

According to the police, the accused had their own 'share marketing company', which they closed down after carrying out a series of frauds.

The statement added that these accused used to lure techies to take hefty loans in private banks to invest in shares and assure them double their money in a short time, and many fell prey to their scam.

The police said that they used to impress gullible investors by meeting them in their luxurious cars or in top restaurants.

"Some time ago, software engineer, Satish filed a formal complaint with Chandra Layout Police, which later referred to the CCB. The CCB started on their trail, all three accused were arrested and high value real estate properties registered under their name were also recovered," the statement read.