Fake armyman, accomplice dupe student, booked

PUNE: The Sinhagad police on Friday night booked a man pretending to work with the Indian Army and his accomplice for duping a computer engineering student to the tune of Rs47,994 on the pretext of selling him an iPhone in December 2018.
Nilesh Chugh, a second year engineering student, came across an advertisement posted by an armyman claiming he wanted to sell an iPhone on an e-commerce website and other promotional websites.
The 18-year-old contacted the armyman and struck a deal to purchase the cellphone but he never met him in person since the man claimed he was posted at a far off location. The armyman connected the student to his accomplice as he would render services of an ‘army-appointed courier firm’ to deliver the parcel at his residence.
The student later received a called from the accomplice, who confirmed his name and address. The accomplice further lured him to deposit varying amounts. He claimed the deposits would be refunded and only Rs100 would be deducted, or the parcel would be sent back to the owner.
Chugh told TOI that he suspected the fraudster was aware of the balance in his bank account and accordingly he sought a particular amount so that only Rs1 would remain in the account.
According to Chugh, he was lured into transferring the amount via eight online transactions, including seven in the name of the delivery person and one in the name of the phone owner, between December 30 and 31.
“I realized that I was tricked after I failed to receive the phone. The fraudsters did not refund the money and they could not be contacted on phones. I had filed complaint application with the police. After conducting a preliminary inquiry, an FIR relating to cheating was registered under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code,” he said.