The city crime branch on Friday arrested two persons for allegedly duping a businessman to the tune of Rs. 6 lakh on the pretext of providing VVIP phone numbers. The two posed themselves as a representative of a telecom company and duped the businessman. The two accused are identified as Paresh Modawala, 43, and Shahrukh Niyaz Ahmed 25 and are residents of Mira Road.
According to police, the victim, a Mumbai Central resident and wholesaler of perfume approached the police after two unidentified men sent a promotional message in September 2019 and offered him VIP phone numbers for Rs 1.5 lakh for each number.
The victim who was interested in the number approached the accused who asked the businessman to send his documents and offered him discount or Rs 55,000 if he took two VIP numbers. During the conversation the accused introduced himself as Jitendra Chotlani and claimed to be working for a telecom service provider.
The victim first paid Rs. 1.10 lakh however, when he contacted the accused, he demanded the full payment of Rs. 3 lakh. Two days later after paying the accused, he offered the victim two additional VIP numbers. Believing them, the victim paid a total of Rs 6 lakh for four VIP numbers however, after the payment was made the accused stopped answering the victim’s calls.
When the victim approached the telecom company he was told that both of them were not related to the company after which he approached the police. An offence of cheating was registered with Bangur Nagar police and the crime branch unit 2 which undertook the investigation arrested the accused from Mira Road.