Cyber Crime: Businessman Duped Of Rs 30 Lakh In Odisha’s Deogarh

Cuttack: In another cyber fraud, an unidentified person duped a businessman of over Rs 30 lakh by promising to erect a mobile phone tower in the latter’s plot of land in Deogarh district.

According to the complaint filed by Sanjay Kumar Dalabehera at the cyber police station of the state Crime Branch in Cuttack, the unidentified person called him over phone by introducing himself as a senior executive of Reliance Jio on November 6, 2019.

The fraudster told Dalabehera that his company would pay him Rs 15 lakh and a job to one of his family, if the former agreed to set up a mobile phone tower in his plot. After Dalabehera agreed to the proposal, he was asked to send the copies of his land, Aadhaar card, PAN card and bank account details.

Later, the so called executive asked Dalabehera to pay Rs 10,000 towards converting his plot to a commercial land. Subsequently, he continued to extract money from Dalabehera on pleas of filing tender, verification of tender, billing charges, pollution certificate etc.

Dalabehera also paid him the amounts without ascertaining his credentials till he paid total Rs 30.47 lakh. Finally, when nothing tangible came up, Dalabehera realised that he was duped and filed the case at cyber police station.

“Dalabehera had neither seen the caller nor met him. But he transferred Rs 30.47 lakh to different bank accounts as told by the accused on different dates,” TOI quoted an official of the cyber police station as saying.

Meanwhile, from the preliminary investigation into the bank accounts where Dalabehera had transferred the money, the police have ascertained that the caller belonged to either Assam or West Bengal.

It may be noted that police had arrested two persons from Kolkata for cheating a businessman of Rs 39 lakh on the same plea of installing telephone tower in July.