Vasai-Virar: Cheat dupes good samaritans, who pooled money to help COVID-19 patients, of Rs 5.42 lakh on pretext of supplying oxygen

Vasai-Virar: Cheat dupes good samaritans, who pooled money to help COVID-19 patients, of Rs 5.42 lakh on pretext of supplying oxygen

Suresh GolaniUpdated: Saturday, May 29, 2021, 08:43 PM IST
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Vasai-Virar: Cheat dupes good samaritans, who pooled money to help COVID-19 patients, of Rs 5.42 lakh on pretext of supplying oxygen /// Picture for representation | BL Soni/ FPJ

Three friends who pooled money to help needy Covid-19 patients in the rural and tribal areas of the Vasai-Virar belt were duped of Rs 5.42 lakh by online fraudsters under the pretext of supplying medical oxygen.

In her statement to the police, the complainant who is a singer and also takes part in social service activities teamed up with her two friends to provide medical oxygen to needy patients free of cost. The complainant posted a requirement for oxygen cylinders on the web portal of a reputed e-commerce marketplace.

Minutes later a person who identified himself as Manish established contact and offered to supply a cylinder of 10 liters at the price of Rs. 4,000 each. After getting the company’s GST number and other details, the unsuspecting complainant placed an order of 130 cylinders by depositing an advance amount in the bank account specified by the fraudster.

However, the complainants were asked to deposit more money on one pretext or the other and they ended up depositing Rs. 5.42 lakh. To gain confidence in their targets, the fraudster not only posted videos of the cylinder being packed for delivery but also gave away the number of the truck driver who was assigned the task of delivery.

However, after the entire money was transferred , the fraudsters stopped responding to calls and messages and after sometime became unreachable. Realizing they were duped, the complainants registered an offence with the Vasai police.

A case under section 420 of the IPC and 66-C of the Information Technology Act has been registered. Further investigations were underway.

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