A 25-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly cheating people on the pretext of selling machine tools and spare parts by posing as a wholesale trader and posting fraudulent advertisements on social media, police said on Saturday. The accused Raushan Kumar, a resident of Bihar was arrested on Friday from Chhatisgarh’s Raipur, Deputy Commissioner of Police (northeast) Joy Tirkey said.
Kumar posed as a wholesale trader and posted advertisements on social media, for selling machine tools and spare parts for cheaper rates. He would provide fake invoices from reputed firms in Raipur to the victims, the DCP said. The matter came to light when Amzad Ali filed a complaint in August last year against Kumar for duping him of Rs 5.7 lakh under the pretext of selling him machine parts.
According to the complaint, Ali paid Rs 5,70,050 in five instalments for different charges including advance, packaging and transportation. While Kumar provided him with the invoices, courier slips and acknowledgement, he allegedly never received the tools, police said. During the investigation, the police found that Kumar had cheated over 20 people in the past year and had earned Rs 20 lakh from the proceeds. They also recovered seven mobile phones, seven SIM cards, four ATM Cards, forged stamps and other documents from his possession, DCP said. A case under sections 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document) of the Indian Penal Code has been registered at the district’s cyber police station, he added.
