Man arrested for cheating people by impersonating Army man

A 29-year-old man was arrested from the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) for allegedly cheating people by impersonating an Army man, police said Friday.

The accused, who is an MA student, has been identified as Mohammad Rakib, from Rajasthan, they said.

On October 7, one Akash Pal, a resident of Pitampura, filed a police complaint alleging that some unidentified persons, impersonating Army personnel, contacted him through OLX offering an 'Apple I-Phone 7 plus' at cheap price and called him at T-1 of the IGI Airport to get the delivery of the phone, Sanjay Bhatia, Deputy Commissioner of Police (IGI Airport) said.

Later, he asked Pal to deposit Rs 35,000 advance money through Paytm. However, the complainant, relying on the assurance of the so-called Army personnel, transferred Rs 35,000. When he arrived at the airport to collect the delivery of the phone, no one responded, he said.

During investigation, police received the details of the alleged Paytm account. It was found that the accused persons were transferring the amount in a particular bank account through multiple e-wallets, the DCP said.

Subsequently, the details of the suspected bank account were received and the accused was later arrested, he said.

During interrogation, it was revealed that Rakib and his accomplices used to use Paytm wallets from different states like Assam, Orissa and post details of an Apple I-Phone on OLX with "very cheap price" tag, the officer added.

Moreover, they used to impersonate Army personnel to gain confidence of the victims and had also prepared forged CSD cards of Army personnel and used to send the copy of the same to the victims to convince them, he said.

A mobile phone, several SIM and ATM cards, forged picture of CSD card were recovered from them and one account of the accused with Rs 1,08,000 balance has also been seized, said Bhaitia, adding that efforts are being made to nab the other accused.