Bhubaneswar: One more person has fallen into the trap of cyber criminals who have been targeting gullible people with fake ads on an online trading firm.
In the latest case, one Brajabandhu Jena, a resident of Shri Krushna Nagar in Salia Sahi under Nayapalli police station here, recently spotted an ad on the portal posted by Sharwan Viswakarma, identifying himself as serving security personnel of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) who wanted to sell his used Maruti Alto car (CG11 C 9338). Jena called the contact phone number given in the ad May 29.
To win the faith of Jena, the purported seller sent Jena some photos of an Army jawan, photo copies of fake PAN and ATM cards and an Army Canteen card. Later, they both agreed to conclude the car deal for a transaction amount of Rs 60,000. The conman first asked Jena to pay Rs 3,050 to dispatch the car through ‘Indian Army Transportation Service’, a fake courier service.
Jena deposited the amount in account number (918059267355) through PayTM in the name of ‘Sk Army Cantt’. The other person informed Jena that the account belongs to Army Canteen and as a para-military person he has been using it.
Later, he started asking Jena money for GST (Rs 11,999), toll duty (Rs 20,000) and other duties at different times. Jena deposited more than Rs 50,000 in the account through PayTM. The conman switched off the phone after he received the last amount May 31.
As if rubbing salt into the wound, the officers at Nayapalli and Kharavel Nagar police stations had refused to accept Jena’s complaint. He first lodged a complaint with the Nayapalli police station in this regard but they asked him to lodge his complaint at the Kharavel Nagar police station which sent him back to Nayapalli police station. A disillusioned Jena has decided to lodge a complaint with the cyber cell of Odisha Police in Cuttack.
Earlier, one woman, identified as Gitanjali Behera of Acharya Vihar area, had fallen into the trap of cyber crooks and lost around Rs 80,000 in a similar way. She too had spotted a similar ad on the same online platform posted by a man identifying himself as an Army officer. She had later lodged a complaint with the Sahid Nagar police April 18.
After duping Jena, another ad featuring the same car images was found on the website June 3. It was posted in the name of a different person, clearly showing that there is an organised racket behind these ‘car sales.’
Jena said the tricksters who spoke mostly in Hindi are from Odisha as they suddenly started talking to Jena in Odia during a verbal duel over phone Wednesday.