They obtain data of customers of popular e-commerce and telemarketing companies from a Delhi-based marketing executive and cheat people in the name of lucrative prize and gift by sitting in a remote Bihar village.
The youngsters send bulk SMS to online shoppers stating that they had won the first prize of a car or an amount of ₹ 6.90 lakh from the e-commerce firm and ask them to call the toll-free number.
“When a gullible person calls the given number, the gang members initially ask him to send some money for registration and RTO charges. They also share the fake ID card and Pan Card to gain trust,” said Cyberabad Commissioner of Police VC Sajjanar. Once a customer starts transferring money, they ask for more amount in the guise of insurance, GST, transportation, driver charges, car check and block the number when they question about the promised gift.
In one such case, a 39-year-old woman from Kompally who bought a spiral potato-cutter worth ₹ 228 from Snapdeal.com through her mobile application on October 8, was duped of ₹ 2.30 lakh by a gang from Bihar, who were arrested by the Cybercrime wing of Cyberabad on Friday.
Mr. Sajjanar said that on November 11, the woman received a message that she won the car and cash prize. Believing the message, she called the toll-free number and chose Tata Nexon car as a gift.
“Initially, she was asked to pay registration charges of ₹ 6,500 and transfer the money to an SBI account,” he said. The victim was then asked to pay a large amount for registration and other processes to claim the prize. “Within 48 hours, she transferred ₹ 2.30 lakh into various bank accounts, before she realised that fraud was played on her,” Mr. Sajjanar said, adding that the next day she approached the cyber crime police.
Following her complaint, a case under relevant sections of the Information Technology Act was registered and teams were sent to New Delhi and the other nort Indian states to nab the gang members before they ended up in Bihar.
The accused, who were arrested and brought to Hyderabad were identified as Sandeep Kumar Aryan (22) from Sheikpura, his brother-in-law Manikchand Paswan (30) from Nawada, marketing executive Tausif Ahmed and website developer Vikas Kumar from New Delhi.
According to the Cyber crime ACP Ch.Y. Srinivas Kumar, the gang members had taken seven toll-free service numbers, developed 13 websites and several bulk SMS services to cheat customers.
He said that no e-commerce company send bulk SMS to their customers offering gifts or prizes. “Never believe such messages as the fraudsters are also using toll-free numbers to trap the gullible.”
Mr. Sajjanar said that the gang arrested for the first time alone was operating 13 fake websites in the name of popular e-commerce sites, but they (the original sites) have not lodged a single complaint.
“Companies providing bulk SMS and toll-free service should obtain KYC documents and do field verification before giving the credentials,” he added.
They have the database of over one lakh customers of Amazon, Flipkart, Club Factory, Snapdeal and several other e-commerce websites.
