New Delhi: The police in Delhi announced on Monday that they had arrested a key member of an organised racket of online cheaters from the Mewat region of Bharatpur, Rajasthan, who used to cheat people online by pretending to be army officers and by using websites like OLX and Facebook marketplace to buy or sell goods.
Ajrudin, a native of Haryana's Nuh area and a former national-level wrestler, has been named as the suspect.
It was said that Pooja Thakkar, a resident of Paschim Vihar, Delhi, posted an advertisement on OLX to sell her old dining table. The police claim that a FIR was filed on her complaint.
“Someone named Ragini Mishra on OLX accepted the offer and agreed to pay Rs 10,000 for the table. The buyer (the fraudster) connected with her via WhatsApp. The fraudster then sent a screenshot to the complainant by saying that Rs 10,000 has been paid.
"When the complainant told the fraudster that she did not receive the money, the fraudster sent her a Paytm link and asked her to click on it to receive the payment. When she clicked on the said link, Rs 10,000 got debited from her account,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outer), Harendra Singh.
When Thakkar asked the fraudster why he had deducted money, he said it was an accident and offered her a new Paytm link, which he instructed her to use to retrieve her money back.
“As soon as she clicked on the link, a sum of Rs 10,000 was again debited from her account. By doing this repeatedly, Rs 1,38,894 got debited from her account,” the DCP said.
Investigators conducted, technical surveillance of all associated call detail records of the alleged numbers, mobile numbers linked to bank accounts, and Internet Protocol Detail Records (IPDRs), ultimately locating the hotel in Sector 48, Gurugram, where the accused was staying.
“On interrogation, it was revealed that around one year ago, he met people who used to cheat others online. They needed more people who could receive cheated money in their bank accounts and provide them the cheated money safely. Ajrudin started working with them on 10 per cent commission of cheated money,” the DCP said.
Ajrudin used to pay anything from Rs 20,000 to Rs 50,000 for access to someone else's bank account, which he subsequently sold to online con artists operating in the Mewat region.—Inputs from Agencies