Mumbai: Matunga Police have arrested a man from Rajasthan last week, for duping people on the pretext of selling a car through the popular online marketing site, OLX India. The accused, identified as Asif Khan, duped a Matunga resident by posing as a Central Industrial Security Force(CISF) officer.
According to Matunga Police, the complainant was looking for a secondhand car on OLX and came across the listing for a Mahindra Scorpio. When the complainant called the given number, Khan told him he was a CISF officer. To gain his trust, Khan sent him photographs of himself in Army uniform and forged copies of his ID.
Khan further told him, he had been transferred and this was the reason he was selling the car and if the buyer wanted the vehicle, he would have to pay him Rs 10,000 online and the car would be delivered. The balance could be paid after delivery, Khan said. The complainant was convinced and accordingly, paid the initial amount.
After a few days, Khan again called him and said the car had reached as far as Panvel when it suffered some technical problem and Rs 10,000 were needed for its repair. The complainant obliged. After getting the money, Khan told him, the car was caught in a nakabandi and for its release, the complainant would have to pay Rs 10,000. In this manner, the complainant was repeatedly asked to shell out money.
Having been asked to cough up Rs 60,000 in this manner, without any sign of the vehicle, the complainant finally smelt a rat. He told Khan he would pay the rest of the amount after the car had been delivered. After this, Khan stop answering his calls. Now the complainant realised he had been duped and approached the Matunga police station and registered an offence under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) section of cheating by personation (419) cheating (420) and under the Information Technology Act.
Matunga Police tracked Khan to Bharatpur in Rajasthan, from where he was arrested on December 11. According to police, Khan is part of a gang which dupes people over OLX, pretending to be an Army officer and he is likely to have duped several others, as well.
