THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The main hub of North Indian gangs that runs car trade scams on websites like OLX in the name of soldiers, are inland villages in the border areas of Rajasthan, Delhi and Haryana states. The cyber police had earlier arrested a few fraudsters from Kaman and Mewat in Rajasthan's Bharatpur district. The scam is done by hacking someone else's phone number or using a fake account in their name. Images of army officers will be taken from social media and it will be morphed and used.

They create fake identity cards using pictures of officers in army uniform, pictures at army parcel centre and bill before sending parcel. They place advertisements for sale of scooters, bullets and cars at reduced prices due to urgent transfer.

The last day, a woman in Pettah who called after seeing the advertisement of a scooter, was sent the documents including the identity card of the army officer. When she asked to see the scooter, she was told that it was at the army base and that no one would be allowed inside due to Covid protocol. The conversation was in Hindi. Rs 5150 was demanded to send the scooter in army parcel. It was clarified that the parcel will be stamped only after paying this amount and it will be reduced from the vehicle price.

She was told that the vehicle will be delivered to Pettah from the Pangode military base within half an hour and she can send it back if she doesn’t like it after driving. It was also stated that Rs 5000 will be returned to her account after deducting Rs 150 if she returns the scooter. But the woman told the owner to pay the parcel amount and said that if she likes the vehicle, she can pay the total amount. With that, the man stopped calling. Fake documents sent on WhatsApp were also deleted.

Fraudsters take the documents and pictures posted by earlier advertisers on OLX and add fake addresses to them and send them on WhatsApp. It looks credible as the details of the vehicle will be available by searching using RC number. Those who fall for the scam will lose Rs 5000 and Rs 10,000.