Madhya Pradesh: Fraudster fakes identity as 'army man', commits cybercrime by fooling innocent biryani seller

Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh): A case of online fraud has been reported from Dabra, Gwalior where a biryani cart owner was robbed of Rs 12,000. The victim, identified as Sanjay, approached the police for help and lodged a complaint. On Tuesday, based on the victim’s complaint, Gwalior Cyber Crime started investigating the case.

Victim Sanjay was fooled by the fraudster who impersonated an army official while placing a food order. Posing as an army officer, the fraudster pretended to be a customer and asked a biryani seller to deposit some money via online payment to confirm the food order. In order to secure the deal, the biryani seller (Sanjay) fell prey to the fraudster.

Reportedly, the food vendor had displated posters carrying his contact number to suggest him offering home delivery. The idea that was planned to attract business saw him deal with fraudsters and fall prey to cybercrime.

The caller who identified himself as an army officer had told Sanjay that he wanted 25 plates of biryani in the morning as well as in the evening for a period of 10 days, and that the customer would send a vehicle from Tekanpur to pick his order daily. Also, stunningly, the customer asked the biryani seller to pay and confirm the order, rather than Sanjay seeking an advance. However, as the order was convincing one and potential of making good money, the biryani seller got trapped and fooled.

At first, the fraudster asked Sanjay to deposit Rs.1000 through Phone pay for the deal. Sanjay did so seeing a good deal to grow the business. However, even the fraud customer called Sanjay to suggest that he hadn't received any money due to "technical problem" and further demanded him to share an OTP send on phone. This led to the success of the fraudster in commiting the crime.

“Army officer alleged that due to technical problem, the money was not transferred to him. He then send an OTP to me and asked him to click on it. I did so and got into trouble,” Sanjay told media. The click resulted Sanjay lose Rs.12000 as the amount got deducted from his account in a flash.

Soon after realising the case, Sanjay approached the police to report the cyber fraud and seek assistance and recovering the lost money. Now, the Gwalior Cyber Crime is underway to investigate the matter.