Made fake websites for selling kidney: African national arrested for duping man of over Rs 14 lakh

Surat crime branch on Saturday arrested an Ivory Coast national for allegedly duping a man of over Rs 14.78 lakh after promising him Rs 4 crore for his kidney through a fake website of a reputed hospital.

Acting on a complaint lodged by Arbaz Rana, a resident of Surat, the cybercrime officials started a probe and arrested Toty Dago Gregoire (33), a resident of Bangalore, on Saturday.

According to police, Arbaz Rana (25), a resident of Nanpura, had borrowed money from his friends and relatives to meet the expenses of his and his sister’s marriage.

Rana runs a business of second-hand cars and was facing financial difficulties due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns.

The 25-year-old man, in his complaint to the police, mentioned that he had decided to sell one of his kidneys to repay the dues. After searching on the internet, he got the phone number of one Dr Shilpa Kumar of Manipal hospital in Bangalore city.

When he called the number, a woman who attended the phone told him that he will get Rs 4 crore if he sells his kidney.

As directed by Dr Shilpa Kumar, Rana paid Rs 14.78 lakh in various bank accounts between September 3, 2020 and October 20, 2020. In his statement to the police, Rana has also mentioned that he had taken a loan from his friends as he thought he would get Rs 4 crore in return. Police verified the details mentioned by Rana and lodged an offence under IPC sections 406, 419, 420, 465, 120(b) and IT Act., section 66(c) and 66(d).

Assistant Commissioner of Police Y A Gohil said, “We have recovered CPU, laptop, mobile phones of the accused used to dupe people. The accused was earlier arrested in 2011 by Bangalore police for his alleged involvement in making fake certificates.”

“The accused has developed fake websites of more than 40 hospitals in the country. He is also involved in creating fake websites for forex trading, bitcoin investment, etc. to commit investment fraud and created fake websites that offered jobs abroad. The police have frozen over Rs 7.50 lakh in eight bank accounts that were used in the transfer of money from the victim, and found that the accounts were used for transactions of over Rs 1.31 crore. He is the head of the entire gang. We will arrest other members soon,” he added.