3 arrested for duping inspector

Three men have been arrested for allegedly duping a police officer of Rs 20,000 after one of them called him and posed himself as an assistant commissioner of police (ACP), police said Monday.

The accused have been identified as Yousaf (24), Sakir (27) and Ravi (22), residents Uttar Pradesh's Mathura district, the police said.

In May, an inspector of the Delhi Police Crime Branch had received a call by a person, who said he was an ACP. The caller said a person he knows was admitted in a hospital and he has lost his wallet, Meghna Yadav, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Shahdara) said.

The caller requested him to send some money through a digital payment application and the officer transferred Rs 20,000, she said, adding that however, when the complainant met the ACP, he denied calling him.

During investigation, details against the alleged Paytm wallet was obtained and it was revealed that the cheated amount was further transferred into a Fino Bank Account, other Paytm bank accounts and some money was being used for recharging the Airtel Digital TV DTH, she added.

Apart from these details, all IP addresses against all the transaction/activity done into the alleged wallet were sought, she said.

On analysing the complete transaction history of the alleged wallet, it came to notice that most of the cheated amount used to be circulated from one wallet to another through different locations, she added.

Later, it was found that a gang was using the alleged transactions and the accused persons were arrested. They used to operate from the bordering areas of UP and Rajasthan, the DCP said.

During interrogation, they disclosed that they used to select series of four numbers which belongs to a specific area. Before calling the user, they acquire the personal details through Truecaller and Facebook, she added.

They used to call their target and pretend that they were in dire need of money and asked for some amount to be transferred either in e-wallet or ask for the credentials of the debit card details along with the OTP, the officer said.

Four debit cards, thirteen mobile phones and 10 SIM cards were recovered from their possession, she added.