BENGALURU: What if your empty flat is being rented out without your knowledge and somebody posing as your relative is making a quick buck? In a strange incident, a miscreant posing as the relative of a flat owner succeeded in making Rs 50,000 from a potential tenant. The amount was collected as rental advance.
Police sources says, such instances of cheating are being reported from areas such as K R Puram, HSR Layout, Whitefield and Hennur, and other localities where inter-state migrants move into.
House owners do not have time to be show the apartment to interested tenants, so they hand over the keys to security guards and post advertisements online. After browsing through these classifieds, miscreants post advertisements from their end on similar websites but with their contact numbers, and collect money from unsuspecting customers.
In a recently reported incident, an employee of Mercedez Benz Company lost Rs 50,000. Ramesh (name changed on request), native of Odisha, has been living in Bengaluru for the past 12 years and was scouting for a 2BHK house to rent. He came across an advertisement on an online portal, about an apartment-to-rent in Hemanth Spandana complez in Brookefield, near BEML bus stop. He called the number given against the ad, and a person introduced himself as the owner Lokanath Reddy and told Ramesh that he could visit the flat.
When Ramesh went to visit the flat, he contacted Reddy who in turn told him that his relative Roshan Kumar would be coming along to show the flat. As was said, Roshan arrived and collected the apartment’s keys from the security guard and showed the flat. After the visit, Ramesh who liked the flat called Reddy over phone and made a deal of -- Rs 1 lakh in advance and Rs 17,000 as rent every month. As a portion of the advance, Ramesh transferred Rs 50 thousand to the bank account that Reddy specified. Reddy assured Ramesh that he would immediately start rental-agreement documentation process.
All set to ready to occupy the house, Ramesh was shocked to know that he fell prey to an organised crime as the real house owners were somebody else. Later, he filed a complaint with the police.Speaking to Express, Ramesh said, “I was totally convinced with the way they took me to house and showed it. It was only later I came to know that even security guard did not know who they are.”The real house owner who got to know about it was shocked that their house was sold without their notice. Later, Ramesh and the house owner went to police station again to sort out the matter. HAL police have registered an NCR complaint and investigations are underway.