Vehicle scam in the name of soldiers; police not taking action

 Thiruvananthapuram native almost got scammed yesterday

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: North Indian scammers who pretend as soldiers and do vehicle scams through OLX website, tried to scam money from a BBA student who is a native of Thiruvananthapuram yesterday pretending as a CISF soldier. This is following last week's attempt to scam a lady residing at Pettah. It is blamed that the police are not taking action after multiple cases have been reported.

Attempt to scam the Muttada resident happened through posting an ad on OLX saying that a brand new Yahama sports bike is on sale for 40,000. The student studying in Bangalore saw the ad from there and contacted them. He received a call from a person who introduced himself as a CISF soldier working in the Bangalore international airport security section.

He said that the bike is in the high-security area of Bangalore international airport and one cannot get entry there to check the bike. He said that he can send the bike through the military's parcel service and if the buyer doesn't like it, they can send it back. The scammer asked for 5000 rupees and when the student declined to pay till he sees the bike, the phone calls stopped.

CISF ID card, pictures of military parcel service center, RC book and insurance policy papers of the bike were all forged and sent via WhatsApp to convince the student. The lady from Pettah was contacted by a scammer who pretended to be a soldier from Pangode military camp and operated similarly.

Amounts ranging from 5000 to 15000 are being scammed. People who cannot identify fake documents are the victims. The scammers use the details posted in other ads from OLX and similar websites combined with fake addresses for their scams. Villages in the borders of Rajasthan, Delhi, and Haryana are the main working base of these scammers.

Modus operandi

• Posts ads on websites like OLX saying that they have to sell their vehicle due to an immediate transfer.
• To prove that they are soldiers, pictures in uniform and ID card will be sent through Whatsapp.

To report such scams

Call - 1930

or register complaints at the national portal

https://cybercrime.gov.in