Mumbai teen duped off Rs 5.45 lakh over fake listing of discounted gadgets: Report

A 19-year-old man from Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur was arrested by the Mumbai Crime Branch on February 3, for duping a teen off lakhs of rupees.

According to a Hindustan Times report, the victim, a 16-year-old resident of South Mumbai’s Girgaon, was cheated of Rs 5.45 lakh after being lured to a fake shopping portal created by the accused. The report noted that several expensive gadgets were listed at throwaway rates to trap victims.

The accused -- identified as Dev Anilkumar Shukla -- told the police that the victim tried to purchase five high-end gadgets, including an iPhone 11 Pro Max and a Oneplus 7 pro, from a fake portal named ‘Amazon Seller Private Limited’ that was created by the accused.

Shukla had put up an advertisement on Instagram listing the Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max for a nominal Rs 18,000 and OnePlus 7 Pro for Rs 15,000. The 16-year-old boy was lured by the prices and got in touch with the seller to make the purchase.

He had used his mother’s debit card and PayTM to make a transaction worth Rs 38,000 for the two cell phones. However, when he did not receive the phone in the stipulated time, the conman informed him that no one was available when the delivery person had arrived. The accused sought Rs 35,00 was from the teen by stating the offer period is no longer valid, and that the price of the phones have increased.

Eventually, the class 9 student was tricked into thinking he bought several gadgets, including an Apple Watch, and ended up paying Rs 5.45 lakh to Shukla in installments over a span of three months.

After nabbing him, police learnt that the Kanpur youth has used the same modus operandi to dupe at least ten people in the past.

Warning about such tech savvy fraudsters, a crime branch officer said: “Nowadays, scamsters create fake websites with good designs to make them look authentic and professional.”