Kataka: An engineer and a lawyer were arrested by the Cyber Crime Police in Odisha’s Kataka for allegedly cheating a man of Rs 2.7 lakh by promising to settle his pending traffic challans through a fake online service.
The accused have been identified as, and Rajat Kumar Lenka (26), an engineer, and Raja Das, (29) a lawyer from Bhadrak.
Police sources said the victim came across a website named “All India RTO Challan” while searching on Facebook for information related to traffic challans. After contacting the operators of the website, he was assured that his challans could be settled. Trusting their claims, the victim transferred more than Rs two lakh to the accused, only to realise later that he had been duped.
During the investigation, police found that the accused had allegedly cheated the complainant of Rs 2.70 lakh. Based on technical evidence and scrutiny of bank transactions, investigators traced the accused and arrested them.
Police seized 61 fake court receipts, three mobile phones, a laptop, 11 ATM cards, two PAN cards, and two Aadhaar cards from their possession.
Investigators suspect that more people may have fallen victim to the racket and are examining the role of others who may have been involved.
Police also advised the public not to trust social media pages or individuals claiming to settle traffic challans at discounted rates. Citizens have been urged to verify and pay all traffic challans only through authorised government portals or official channels.