CHENNAI: The Adyar Cyber Cell police on Wednesday arrested a 48-year-old man for allegedly swindling people by offering transport services through an online portal. The police have also asked the public to be cautious as online portals are listing fake companies with top ratings without background checks.
Police said the accused E Jayakumar had paid Rs 7000 per month to the online portal, IndiaMart, to place his non-existent company in the top searches. Police officers say online portals enjoy immunity under Section 79 of the Information Act and hence people should not blindly trust companies listed by them.
The victim, Karthikeyan, working in a private company, was looking for trucks to transport goods for his company. On April 16, searching through IndiaMart's web portal, Karthikeyan came across a company based in Poonjeri at Mahabalipuram.
“Since the company had good ratings and was listed on top, Karthikeyan contacted Jayakumar, who promised to send two trucks to the location and asked to transfer Rs 30,000 as advance and the rest of the money after the transport is done,” said a police officer.
Soon after the money was transferred electronically, Jayakumar switched off his mobile phone. Realising that he was conned, Karthikeyan approached the Adyar Cyber Cell and lodged a complaint. The special team of police nabbed Jayakumar.
Police said that Jayakumar was earlier employed at a furniture company in Triplicane. After losing his job, Jayakumar had registered himself under a fake logistics company in portals to con people. Though he ran a fake company, Jayakumar was listed on top in the logistics category because he had paid Rs 7000 to the portal. Without verifying his authenticity, the portal had placed him on top which led to people being conned.
“It is important that people do not fall for the ratings and top listings in portals that play as intermediates to buyers and sellers. People should verify the authenticity of any services offered through online portals before availing their services,” says V Vikraman, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Adyar.