KASARAGOD: Kasaragod Town Police booked five persons from various parts of Keralam for allegedly cheating a Kasaragod trader of iPhones worth Rs 38 crore in a deal that happened in Dubai by furnishing fake payment confirmation. The victim, N A Abdul Rauf and his relatives from Nellikunnu in Kasaragod run Millennium Gift Trading at Deira in Dubai, a wholesale dealer of iPhones.
According to the Rauf, the fraudulent transactions happened between October 2022 and October 2023. The accused are identified as Ramees of Chundankandi in Kozhikode, Yusuf of Valanchery in Malappuram, Sajil and Fareed of Erattupetta in Kottayam, and Nizam of Kattakada in Thiruvananthapuram. Police booked them under IPC sections 465, 468, 471 and 420 for forgery, forging documents or electronic record, and cheating.
According to the FIR, the five accused bought iPhones from Millennium Gift Trading in bulk but used fake payment confirmations to collect the iPhones without actually paying for the phones. Millennium Gift Trading is a bulk business from where retailers procure iPhones in bulk. Since the business is a massive one operating several crores in a single day, the retailers get a credit line for some days within which the payments have to be made. The accused utilised these provisions to cheat the wholesaler, said police.
The accused also created a fake company seal to carry out these transactions. Following the fraud, Rauf approached Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala and based on his instructions, Town Police filed the complaint against the five. Nevertheless, the local police may face jurisdiction issues since the crime happened in Dubai. The complaint will be sent to the District Crime Branch for further persuasion, said police.