Saturday, 31 December 2022 | PNS | Dehradun
Accused posed as army officer to dupe Rishikesh resident
The cyber crime police of Uttarakhand Special Task Force (STF) arrested a member of a cybercriminal group from Haryana for duping a Rishikesh resident of Rs 13 lakh in the name of renting his flat by posing as an army officer. The Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) of Cyber Crime, STF, Ankush Mishra informed that a Rishikesh resident Yogesh Singh had filed a complaint stating that he had released an advertisement to rent his apartment and a man named Ravi Kumar approached him while posing as an army officer.
According to the complainant, the accused Kumar approached him over the phone stating that he was recently posted in the Dehradun district and would soon bring his family here too for which he is looking for an apartment to rent, informed Mishra. He said that the accused contacted the complainant again and talked about paying the amount of rent in advance. The accused allegedly sent a link of a dubious app to the complainant and duped him of Rs 13 lakh by withdrawing money into different accounts after the complainant clicked on the link. The DSP said that the STF started the investigation and found out that bank accounts used to scam the complainant were opened in Mewat, Haryana using fake IDs and documents to carry out such scams. Teams were sent to Haryana and Rajasthan to gather more details about the accused.
The STF finally nabbed the accused in Haryana late Thursday night who was brought to Dehradun on Friday morning. A mobile phone used in the scam was also recovered from the accused, said DSP. He informed that the accused and his accomplices get mobile numbers through advertisements available on public platforms and contacted them by posing as an army man to rent houses. They used to send links to the owners in the name of sending advance payments and withdrawing their money from bank accounts soon after they clicked on the link, said Mishra. He said that authorities are questioning the accused and more people are likely to be involved in the scam too.
The STF will take action to nab other cyber criminals of the gang after getting more evidence on the case, said Mishra. He also appealed to the public to not click on links received from unverified contacts and avoid downloading remote access apps like Any Desk, Quick Support and Alpmix etc to prevent remote access by cybercriminals. In case of any cyber fraud, one should immediately contact authorities or call the helpline number 1930, added DSP.
