Beware of car ads, OLX fraudsters on prowl in Mewat

Sumedha sharma

Tribune News Service

Gurugram, July 11

Small-time fraudsters in Mewat involved in posting fake advertisements on OLX have graduated to being armed organised gangs. A police team out to nab one of such gang was fired upon in Punhana late last evening. The police could catch two of the accused, while the other two managed to flee.

Sources said the four accused had posted a fake advertisement on OLX offering a car on lucrative price. The accused on two mobikes were on the way to meet the customer when police got a tip-off and stopped them at a naka near Luhinga Kala village. They tried to flee, firing at police personnel. While two of them managed to flee, two others identified as Ippy and Shaukeen were nabbed. The duo revealed that they regularly posted such ads and trapped people looking for cheap cars. In many cases they got the money transferred online and in others they would take the customer hostage and seek ransom. They had robbed a buyer of Rs 3 lakh in June this year.

OLX frauds have gripped Mewat with more and more youth getting involved in them. In a majority of the cases, victims do not approach police, making it difficult to crack the crime.

The gangs post pictures of cars, especially taxis, for sale at lucrative prices. As people start making calls, they zero down on timid targets offering the best deal.

“If the target seems to be well educated, we send a ready set of fictitious vehicle documents and get the money online. If they insist on seeing the vehicle, we call them to a remote village and we don’t just take the money but also get them to withdraw cash from the cards they carry. If we cannot make much then we get them to call their family and get the ransom transferred online,” one of the accused told the police.

According to a senior investigation official, these fraudsters enjoy immense local support and many villages notorious for vehicle thefts have now started taking this up as a collective profession. While youngsters handle the online activity, others help with the abductions or lend their vehicles to trap the victims.

The modus operandi 

• If a customer appears to be well educated, fraudsters send a ready set of fictitious vehicle documents and get the money online.
• When a buyer insists on seeing the vehicle, the fraudsters call them to a remote village and don’t just take the money but also get them to withdraw cash from the cards they carry.
• If the fraudsters cannot make much then they even get the buyer to call their family and get the ransom transferred online.