Bihar based fraudster arrested by Theni police from Delhi

The Theni district police have arrested 34-year-old Rahul Kumar from Bihar, the owner of three fake call centres in Delhi, for duping a Theni man of ₹ 17.69 lakh by promising him a valuable reward from an e-commerce company.

According to a statement by Theni Police Commissioner R Shiva Prasad, the complainant, who had purchased a mobile phone case through a popular e-commerce company, received a call from a person posing as a representative of the company’s rewards department.

He claimed that the complainant had won a prize worth ₹12.80 lakh. He was told that the prize could be collected in cash or in the form of a car.

The complainant was referred to a website to review the award details.

Upon verification, it was found that the complainant believed in the genuineness of the claim and as a result transferred ₹ 17.69 lakh in different installments to different bank accounts.

It was only after sending a huge sum of money that the complainant realised that he had been cheated, the SP said.

Following a complaint, the Theni cyber police station found that the funds were transferred to 11 bank accounts in India, all of which were held in Delhi.

The police went to Mumbai where they discovered that one of the account holders was unaware of the fraud as he had shared his bank documents and SIM card with Delhi at the request of a friend.

The friend admitted that he had sent several other bank accounts and SIM cards to Delhi’s Pitampura area.

The team later went to Delhi where they found that these accounts and SIM cards were being used in call centres to cheat people.

After conducting a detailed investigation, the team arrested the accused and seized two mobile phones containing user data.

Police recovered ₹ 5 lakh from the accused.

The SP said bonus coupon scams were on the rise and warned people against sharing personal information on social media or e-commerce sites.

He advised people to immediately lodge a complaint in case of financial loss on toll-free cyber helpline number: 1930 or on www.cybercrime.gov.in

He added that early reporting of cases increases the chances of recovering lost funds.