Fake soldier dupes 61-year-old of Rs 9,000 in online bike sale

CHENNAI:  A man has been booked by the city police for allegedly duping a 61-year-old man of Rs 9,700 on the pretext of selling a bike on an e-commerce website. The case has now been transferred to the Cybercrime Wing. According to Abhiramapuram police, N Srikrishna of Nandanam was looking to buy a two-wheeler for his friend and visited an e-commerce site. 

After selecting the vehicle a contact was established. The seller, Shivshanth, claimed he was an Army man, and currently posted at Pallavaram Cantonment. A discussion was held and a price of Rs 23,000 was fixed and both parties shared photos and IDs.

Shivshath informed Srikrishna that the vehicle will be delivered to him after he pays Rs 3,200. Srikrishna got the bank details and paid him. After some time, Shivshanth told him he had to pay Rs 6,500 more for an NOC from the Army. Srikrishna tried to pay the amount to the same account but the transactions did not go through. “I got bank details of another account in the name of Piyush Kumar to which I paid the amount. He then told me that I had paid the amount incorrectly, stating Rs 6,000 and Rs 500 should have be sent separately,” said Srikrishna. 

When Srikrishna asked to transfer the money back, he was told that in an Army account outward transactions are blocked. Srikrishna then realised that he was being duped and kept asking for the money, at which point Shivshanth stopped responding and switched off the phone. 

A police official from the cybercrime section said, “This is the most common method utilised to dupe people online and there has been a rise in such activities using the Army’s name.” Srikrishna, through his friends, traced both bank accounts and said he spoke with the bank officials and found out that the money had not been withdrawn. The process for recovering the money is on, he added.