TN cops nab fake army men from Rajasthan for cyberscam

CHENNAI: Reminding of some scenes from the 2017-action movie Dheeran Adhigaram Ondru, a team of sleuths from the Central Crime Branch (CCB) has caught two members of a racket engaged in online fraud by tracking them down to a Rajasthani village.  The cybercrime wing of the CCB had come across several complaints regarding certain people posing as army personnel cheating people by offering to sell cheap vehicles in the online marketing platform OLX. 

At least 20 such incidents have come up in the city alone. During the course of inquiry, the police came across two suspects- M Naresh Pal Singh(36) and L Bachchu Singh (26), both from Bharatpur in Rajasthan.  An official said the duo would post photos of two-wheelers, cars and trucks on OLX, claiming that they were army personnel and wanted to sell off the vehicles as they had been transferred to another town. Whenever someone lured by the ‘unbelievable’ price tag approached, the gang would share fake documents of vehicles. “They would demand amounts ranging from Rs 5,000 to 50,000 depending upon the nature of the vehicle as advance and transport charges.

They would convince them to transfer the money, and later snap all contact, said the police. It is suspected that the duo is part of a larger gang that has cheated many people. After finding that the gang was based in Rajasthan, a special team led by Assistant Commissioner Velmurugan went there to nab the duo. They were produced before a court in Bharatpur and would be brought to Chennai on Sunday.