Fifty-year-old Ashfaq Hussain, a private firm employee, recently checked online for contact numbers to transport his bike to Hubballi. Little did he know that he would fall prey to a movers and packers scam.
The northeast division cybercrime police, on Wednesday, unearthed a gang of four for running a fake transport company impersonating a leading packers and movers firm to cheat people on the pretext of providing low-cost services. The fraud came to light when Mr. Hussain was approached by a person, identifying himself as Sandeep, who said he would transport the bike for ₹4,000.
However, when the bike did not reach the destination, Mr. Hussain called up Sandeep, who started demanding more money to transport the vehicle. Suspecting something fishy, Mr. Hussain, on June 22, filed a complaint. The cybercrime police tracked down the accused, identified as Puran Singh Chouhan, 25, Narendra, 32, Dharmendra, 21, and Dharamveer, 24.
Investigations revealed that the accused were misusing the names of reputed transport companies and placing advertisements online with their personal contact numbers offering movers and packers services at throwaway prices . Once they were contacted, the accused would visit the victim’s house to get the vehicles and escape. They would start demanding more money and once the money is paid, the accused would send the vehicle to the destination by paying the regular price and keep the remaining amount.
The police have been charged the accused under section 66D ( using communication device or computer resource cheats by personation) of the IT Act.
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