Youth loses ₹72K while buying two-wheeler from ‘army man’

A 27-year-old media professional was allegedly duped of ₹72,000 by a cyber fraudster posing as an Army personnel while trying to purchase a second hand bike online. A first information report (FIR) was lodged at the Borivli police station on April 11.

On March 21, the complainant came across an advertisement of a second-hand scooter for sale on Facebook. He called up the given number and the ‘seller’ introduced himself as Pravinkumar, an Army man.

In order to gain the complainant’s trust, the accused sent him the PAN card, Aadhaar card and photograph of the man he was impersonating. Convinced, the complainant agreed to the deal.

On March 23, the complainant made a payment of ₹30,000 through an e-wallet. On March 24, he received a call from another man who introduced himself as Bharat. The complainant was told that in order to allow the bike to leave Army premises, he would have to pay ₹21,100 as security deposit.

When the complainant called Pravinkumar to check the legitimacy of the second call, he was told that the deposit would be reimbursed. After making the payment, Bharat told the complainant to transfer another ₹100.

He was then asked to pay ₹30,000 as Goods and Services Tax (GST). Starting to get suspicious, the complainant confronted the fraudster. Immediately after, the accused switched off his phone and the complainant realised he had been duped.