Vadodara: A retired employee of Madhya Gujarat Vij Company Limited (MGVCL) was cheated of Rs 19 lakh by four persons posing as employees of a teleshopping company.
Sanjay Verma, Shambhu Sharan, Rahul Verma and Anil Verma were booked at Makarpura police station on the basis of the complaint given by the victim Rupsingh Vasava on Saturday.
Vasava told the police that in April last year he had received an SMS informing that he had won an SUV car in a lucky draw of the teleshopping company for which he will have to pay Rs 8,400. There was also a mobile phone number mentioned in the SMS. A few minutes later he received a call from Sanjay to inform that he has won the SUV car. He was asked to call Sharan for more details.
Lured by the offer, Vasava called Sharan on the number given by Sanjay. Sharan told him that it is true that Vasava has won a car in the lucky draw and asked him to deposit Rs 8,400 registration money and Rs 38,400 more in an SBI account. Within next one week, he received several smses from the four accused to deposit more money. Police said that by the end of April Vasava had paid over Rs 18 lakh in different bank accounts mentioned in the SMS.
After depositing the money, Vasava then called to ask when he will receive his car. The accused kept dilly dallying by giving excuses. However, Vasava waited patiently until recently when the accused switched off their phones. A police official said that it was then that Vasava realized that he had been cheated.
The victim then approached the police. “We have sought the call detail records and locations of the four accused. Once banks open on Monday, we will also try to learn in whose names the accounts were opened,” said a police official.
He added that two months ago Vasava got the first SMS after ordering LED bulbs from the teleshopping company and that is how his number might have been leaked.