Cops help conned man successfully corner conman in Chennai

CHENNAI: Twenty-four-year-old Rajesh who conned a vegetable vendor by using his bank account details to buy a mobile phone from an e-commerce site, got a taste of his own medicine on Sunday when police and the victim’s relative posed as delivery persons and nabbed him at Kancheepuram. 

Hari Krishnan, a vegetable vendor at Kancheepuram market, said he made contact with one Rajesh, reportedly an agent helping people avail of credit cards on May 17. “I had gone to the State Bank of India to deposit some money. I also had some queries regarding my credit card and I was directed to Rajesh. He asked me to hand over my card to check the problem. Meanwhile, I deposited the money and got the card back from him,” said Hari Krishnan. 

That evening Rajesh allegedly called Hari. “At around 6pm, he said that validity of the card had expired. He asked me for the One Time Password in order to reactivate it. I told him I would meet him at the bank but he insisted I give him the OTP. So I trusted him and told him the OTP. On Saturday, when I used my card to purchase rice, I found I had only `200 left to hit my credit limit. I checked my SMSes and found he had purchased a mobile phone,” explains Hari. Rajesh had allegedly used money from Hari’s account to buy a mobile phone worth `8,499 from the Amazon website. 

Hari alerted a relative who along with Salavakkam police decided to lay a trap for Rajesh. They called him and told him that his order was ready and asked where it should be delivered. “Rajesh told the ‘delivery boy’ to wait near the Natrajapuram bus stop in Kancheepuram. We caught him when he came to collect the parcel,” said a police officer. Police are investigating if there are other cases pending against him. The case was transferred to the Vishnukanchi police who registered a case and Rajesh was remanded to judicial custody.