Thane: 4 held for cheating builder of Rs 66.75 lakh

Representational Image. File Pic

An FIR was registered against four persons by the Navi Mumbai police for allegedly cheating a 35-year-old real estate developer of Rs 66.75 lakh in a land deal, reported PTI on Sunday.

As per the PTI report, the accused produced fake documents to show that a plot in Ulwe area of Navi Mumbai township was owned by one of them.

They also forged documents of various agreements, transfer orders of the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) and gained the confidence of the victim hailing from Sanpada, the official from CBD police station said quoting a complaint.

They allegedly took Rs 66.75 lakh from the victim in the land sale-purchase deal and cheated him, he said, adding the offence took place between December 2021 and January 2023.

According to the victim, the accused took Rs 66.75 lakh from him in the land sale-purchase deal and cheated him between December 2021 and January 2023.

Based on the developer's complaint, the police on Saturday registered an FIR against four persons under relevant legal provisions for cheating, forgery, criminal breach of trust and criminal conspiracy, he said.

An investigation into the fraud is underway.

In another case of cyber fraud, a 60 year-old man was duped of Rs 30.80 lakh in online cryptocurrency investment fraud, reported PTI citing police on July 6.

Police have registered an FIR against two persons and are conducting investigations.

"The complainant was contacted by two persons on WhatsApp in June who inducted him a member of a group assuring him hefty returns for investing in cryptocurrency," a Vartak Nagar police station official said.

Trusting them, the victim invested around Rs 31 lakh. However, as he failed to redeem returns, he contacted the group administrators, who started ignoring him, the official said, reported PTI.

The official added that nobody has been arrested yet.

Meanwhile, three youths with only a 10th-grade education allegedly cheated a Nagpur resident of Rs 5 lakh in an online fraud through an IT solutions company they established. They were arrest from Mumbai, reported PTI citing a police official on June 30.

The arrested individuals have been identified as Atul Indrapati Singh (32) of Virar in Palghar, Neeraj Shamkumar Choubey (26) of Nalasopara, and Vikas Meghlal Saw (23) from Dahisar, the Nagpur Cyber Police official said.

According to the police, the trio recently founded a company named Samarth IT Solutions and listed their contact details on Google, said PTI.

In May, Atul Uike, a resident of Nagpur's Mahal area, started facing issues with the PhonePe app, an online payments app, on his mobile device. He searched for customer care contact information on Google and found the number listed by Samarth IT Solutions.

Following the provided instructions, Uike made a video call during which the fraudsters manipulated his settings, promising that the app would start functioning by night, reported PTI citing an official.

Over the next two days, a total of Rs 5 lakh was transferred from his account in three transactions of Rs 1.49 lakh, Rs 1.99 lakh, and another Rs 1.49 lakh. Following the transactions, Uike lodged a complaint with the cyber police, which led to the arrest of the fraudsters, the official said.