Mumbai Crime: Borivli engineer duped of Rs 50,000 by 'Army man' looking for rented house online

Photo for representational purpose

A resident of Borivli was duped of Rs 50,000 by an e-fraudster, who posed as an Army officer and contacted the victim for an advertisement he had placed on a real estate database to rent his flat.

Samip Patil, an engineer, is the second such victim in the city. He was duped on February 19, stated a report in The Times of India.

The MHB Colony police registered a case on March 5 after Patil lost the money to one Randeep Singh. Patil was asked to scan a Quick Response (QR) code allegedly sent from the Army Bank in Pune.

"We have sought the bank details to understand the money trail. The fraudster has been doing the crime using a fake identity and has collected details of people who have placed advertisements about renting their flat on social media platforms," said an officer.

The modus operandi involves targeting people who upload advertisements to rent their houses. The accused then calls the victim and tells them that he has got posted in Mumbai and is in dire need of a house as he is travelling with his family from Pune.

In Patil's case, the accused claimed that the security deposit and rent will be transferred by the Army Bank.

"I insisted that he pay through NEFT. However, he kept giving excuses like his bank was unable to operate NEFT and asked for my UPI details. To gain my confidence, he credited Rs 5 and asked me to scan a QR code for a money transfer. When I told him that I was aware that the code is used to debit money from the account, he made me believe that he was not a cheat," said Patil.