Delhi man gives Rs 35,000 to online crook for ‘cheap’ iPhone

NEW DELHI: Akash Pal was taken aback when he found an almost new iPhone 7 Plus being sold at a reasonable price on online trading platform Olx. Pal immediately contacted the seller, who claimed to be an Armyman posted in Assam.
To substantiate his credentials, the seller, Mohammad Rakib, sent a copy of his Canteen Services Depot (CSD) card to Pal and said that he would be reaching Delhi airport for a transit flight and could hand over the phone to Pal if he transferred him Rs 35,000 as the initial payment. After wiring Rakib the amount through an e-wallet, Pal went to IGI airport the following day to collect the phone. However, when no one turned up at the airport, a distraught Pal approached the police.

Cops managed to track Rakib, a master’s student from a university in Rajasthan, through the bank account to which the initial money was transferred. He was arrested with the fake CSD card in his possession. “Two bank accounts being operated by Rakib have also been frozen. We have arrested him for cheating and forgery and are probing how he had managed to procure the CSD card,” said DCP (airport) Sanjay Bhatia.

Pal told the cops that he had initially refused to believe the phone was available at such a low cost but was convinced when Rakib claimed to be an Army personnel. During the course of investigation, cops collected the transaction details of the e-wallet and on the basis of that information, zeroed in on the accused’s location. It was found that Rakib had been transferring the Rs 35,000 that Pal had wired him to another bank account through multiple e-wallets.

During interrogation, Rakib admitted to cheating several others with the same modus operandi. He said that he completed his graduation and was pursuing a master’s degree from a government university in Bharatpur, Rajasthan.