Six held for cheating people of crores using fake websites

Mumbai, January 6

The cyber police of Mumbai crime branch have arrested six persons for allegedly cheating people of crores by promising them LPG dealerships through fake websites, an official said on Wednesday.

The arrested accused along with their aides duped at least 10,351 persons of Rs 10.13 crore, the official said.

According to the police, the scam came to light on December 15, 2020 when the complainant approached the crime branch stating that he had registered himself for an LPG gas dealership on two websites — www.lpgvitrekchayan.net and www.allindiadealershipservices.in.

The complainant had given out all his personal details in the registration form on the websites, which were allegedly created by the accused, the official said.

After a few days, he received call from a man who introduced himself as representative of the website and promised him a dealership of HP Gas Agency, asking him to deposit Rs 3.66 lakh for certificates and other documentation, he said.

After receiving the amount, the representative stopped responding to the complainant and on verification, the man found that he had been duped, he said.

During investigation, the cyber police traced the online fraud to Bihar and West Bengal and found that thousands of people had registered on the websites created by the racketeers, the official said.

Four teams were dispatched to Patna in Bihar, West Bengal and Ratnagiri in Maharashtra, he said.

While three persons, including a woman, were nabbed from Patna, one was apprehended from Jaigad in Ratnagiri, and two engineers were caught from West Bengal, the official said.

The accused would chat with victims on WhatsApp and promise them dealerships of LPG, he said.

As many as 123 websites are part of the scam under which people are being duped with the promise of instant loans, dealerships and online shopping, the official added. — PTI