Mumbai: The Mahim police have booked two individuals for allegedly duping a father-son duo of Rs. 3 lakh. The accused posed as government officials working at the Kalina Military Camp in Santacruz and cheated the victims in a cyber fraud.
The complainant in the case, Rohit Garde, 31, approached the police on Sunday, alleging that they were scammed by two individuals who pretended to be interested in buying venturi injections, commonly used for mixing liquids or gases into a stream of water. Rohit's father, Kiran (63), received a message on his mobile number which said, 'We found you on JD Mart. Want to inquire about Venturi injector.'
JD Mart is an exclusive B2B portal for wholesale business.
How the duo were duped
Kiran, thinking they could be potential clients, called them. They identified themselves as officials at Kalina Military Camp and asked for 12 pieces of venturi injections. He informed the 'client' that they only had 7 pieces available, to which the 'client' agreed. Kiran provided them with the shipping address in Santacruz. A bill of Rs. 44,368 was prepared and approved. Kiran left in the company's car from Mahim to Santacruz to deliver the items.
When Kiran arrived at the spot, the caller, a man named Kunal Choudhary, informed him that making a gate pass to enter the Military Camp would take at least 30 minutes. Choudhary suggested paying via Google Pay instead, in return for providing the items.
"Since my father didn't have Google Pay, he called me and informed me of the same. Sometime later, a man named Kuldeep Singh called me and asked me to send Rs. 5 to a given number via Google Pay and said Rs. 10 would be returned immediately, followed by the payment for the supply. I did the same. He said the number given to me is connected to the Military's account department. He then mentioned a Military refundable card assigned to every employee, so I had to make payments to various Google Pay numbers in sections. I followed the instructions given to me," said Rohit in his statement to the police.
Rohit was made to make several payments to different accounts, and the scammers confused him further by claiming the money wasn't received due to network issues, etc.
In total, Rohit alleges that he sent Rs. 3,26,038 via online payment and net banking. Rohit expected his father to have met the duo by now, but when he checked with his father, he found out his father was still standing outside the Military camp and hadn't met anyone. They realized they were scammed in a cyber fraud and then approached the police.
The Mahim police registered a case against the owner of the two mobile numbers used to commit the crime. They are also coordinating with the bank to obtain information about Kuldeep Singh, who provided details of an account at Canara Bank.
Sections including 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy), 170 (personating a public servant), 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating), 34 (common intent) of the Indian Penal Code, and relevant sections of the Information Technology Act have been added to the FIR against the two accused.
