Bhayandar: Planning to buy or sell something on online marketplaces and e-commerce portals? Be sure to cross check and verify the credentials of the person with whom you are striking a deal, or you may fall prey to the evil designs of cyber crooks who are constantly updating methods to siphon off money. Despite alerts, another buyer became the latest target of the online fraud.
Offering to sell a Honda Activa bike for Rs 18,000 on the platform of a reputed online portal, a fraudster duped a 43-year-old Bhayandar resident of Rs 72,184.
The victim, Shravan Jain, came across an advertisement posted on the online marketplace, inviting buyers for a sparingly used Honda Activa 5G bike.
As Jain was interested, he contacted the seller who told him that was willing to sell the bike for Rs 18,000 as he had been transferred from Mumbai to Bangalore.
After striking the deal, the seller initially asked Jain to deposit Rs 3,500 for a gate pass for the bike from the cargo complex. The conman claimed that he had encountered some problem due to the faulty mode of payment, to which the victim obliged.
As instructed and assured of a repayment of the access amount, Jain went on to make multiple transactions towards advance and delivery charges and ended up paying a total of Rs.72,184. When the “seller” demanded more money, Jain realized he was duped and registered a complaint with the Navghar police.
While a case under sections 420 of the IPC has been registered against the suspects, investigators were trying to track the phone numbers and details of the bank accounts in which the money had been deposited.
