Bhubaneswar: A shop owner in the city was duped of Rs 22,500 by a fraudster who used a pen with erasable ink on a cheque.
The matter came to light after the victim, Somanath Sahu, lodged a complaint at Khandagiri police station.
Sahu, who owns an electronic goods shop at Bapuji Nagar, told police that a man claiming to be a representative of a private bank had called him on March 4. The caller had identified himself as Bikash Singh and offered Sahu a personal loan of Rs 1 lakh. The latter agreed to take the loan as he was in need of money.
Next morning, a youth went to Sahu’s shop to collect two cheques, including one for Rs 100 as processing fee.
The youth also wrote a cancelled cheque with his pen and asked Sahu to sign in. The youth then took the cheques and assured Sahu that loan amount will be credited to his bank account that afternoon.
Later, however, Sahu got a message that Rs 22,500 was withdrawn from his account. When he approached the bank, he came to know that the amount was withdrawn on basis of the cheque deposited by the youth.
According to police, preliminary investigation has revealed that the amount was withdrawn from Sahu’s account with a cheque. The miscreant also provided an Aadhaar number to the bank in the name of one Rajat Sharma from Nayapalli in Bhubaneswar.
Police are investigating if the Aadhaar number is original or duplicate.
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