Man develops fake website on Narendra Modi's name to dupe people

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New Delhi: A 23-year-old man allegedly used a fake website on Narendra Modi to lure people in the name of free laptops and solar panel schemes. The accused was arrested after days of online surveillance in Rajasthan.

According to The Times of India, the accused identified as Rohit Soni, a B.Com graduate preparing for the Chartered Accountancy entrance exam, had managed to lure at least 35,000 people to download an application through the website in the name of availing Modi's schemes.

The accused has been using a website with the domain name of sarkari-yojana.in promising free laptops and solar panels.

"We also came to know that the person has used the Central government's "Make in India" campaign to misguide people. We also found out that information about the people registered for the scheme was being collected by the website owner," said Deputy commissioner of police (cyber crime) Anyesh Roy.

The accused has been arrested under relevant sections and investigation is underway.

In another case, two people have been arrested by the Mumbai police cyber crime cell for allegedly creating a fraud website that mimicked the online entertainment ticketing platform Book My Show in order to dupe people. The third suspect, in this case, is still absconding.

The fake website, which displayed numbers for ‘booking' tickets, lured the public into thinking they were dealing with Book My Show. The accused identified as Arbaz Zaheer Shaikh (22) and Abdulla Hakim Shaikh (25) were produced in the local court and later remanded police custody till May 31. The third accused identified as Mohsin Mehboob Shaikh (30) is absconding.

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The police stated, the online entertainment ticketing platform, Book My Show received several complaints from the public regarding their bookings which were not being confirmed despite payments having been made. According to Mumbai Mirror, four customers stated they had made the bookings but when they turned up at the shows they were not allowed in. The four had spent Rs 2.3 lakh collectively and demanded their money back.

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Book My Show then initiated an investigation, which revealed the existence of the fake website - bookmyshowsupport.com. "The accused had published two numbers on the fake website, which gullible victims were asked to dial for reservations. When the victims called the numbers, the person on the other side would ask them to transfer money through net banking and tell them their bookings had been confirmed. However, the customers would not get the tickets," said a police officer. "After receiving complaints, Book My Show approached us and lodged an FIR. We traced the accused and arrested them for cheating Book My Show as well as the customers of Book My Show," he added.

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