Swindler lands in Chandigarh Cyber Cell net

Chandigarh, May 6

A fraudster has been arrested by the Cyber Crime Investigation Cell of the UT police for duping an employee of an automobile company of Rs 10,000 on the pretext of purchasing an Audi car.

According to the police, the complainant, a salesperson at Audi dealership in Chandigarh, had reported that the suspect, identified as Deepak Grover, was in touch with him regarding the sale of Audi A6.

On March 27, the complainant received a call from the suspect who claimed that he wanted to book the car and asked for the bank account of the company. Thereafter, the complainant received a message from the suspect stating that Rs 2 lakh have been transferred in the bank account, but due to some internet problem there is a delay in reflecting the payment in the account.

The suspect again called up the salesperson and claimed that he was in urgent need of Rs 10,000 and made him transfer the money through Google Pay.

Later, the suspect made another call to the salesperson to inform him that he had mistakenly transferred Rs 25,000 to him and asked him to return Rs 15,000.

He also shared a fake message of Rs 25,000 being transferred to the bank account.

The complainant got suspicious following which he checked the bank account and found that the money had not been deposited in the account.

The police were informed about the incident following which a case was registered in this regard.

During the investigation, the suspect was identified and arrested from Ludhiana.

The police said during interrogation, the suspect disclosed that he was habitual to ‘investing’ money in casino. The suspect used to search for the contact numbers of automobile agencies on Google and made a contact. During conversation with salesperson, he used to ask for quotation of luxury cars and thereafter, he used to create fake edited message of advance payment for the car.

Further, he took screenshot of the said edited message and shared with the salesperson of the agency concerned. Later, he demanded payment in his bank account by saying that he needed some amount due to urgency. He used this modus operandi to commit fraud with so many people, the police said.

Modus operandi

• The suspect used to search for the contact numbers of automobile agencies on Google and made a contact. During a conversation with a salesperson, he used to ask for quotation of luxury cars and thereafter, created a fake edited message of advance payment for the car.
• Further, he took a screenshot of the said edited message and shared it with the salesperson of the agency concerned. Later, he demanded payment in his bank account by saying that he needed some amount due to urgency.