VISAKHAPATNAM:The Cyber Crime Investigation Cell police Sunday arrested one P Eswar Rao for duping a Naval Dockyard employee, Prem Netram Singh, to the tune of Rs 1.5 lakh in the name of winning a car in a commercial TV show. Another man, AK Basak, who has also been accused of being involved in the crime, is absconding.
The Cyber Crime police said that Netram Singh, while watching TV, had responded to a question ‘Who is the hero of movie Krish?’ on March 15. He texted the answer to the number 09916295263 as prompted. Later, he received a call from the number 08179628580. The caller introduced himself as a Pradeep Kumar Goop, Manager of Tata Motors who informed Singh that he has won the second prize in the contest by sending in the right answer. The caller said that Singh could claim either a TATA Indica car or cash as the prize. When Singh said that he wanted the car, Pradeep Kumar asked him to deposit an amount of Rs 7,500 in SBI account number 11463099636. Later, he called again and asked Singh to deposit an amount of Rs 18,900 towards car insurance charges. This time, Pradeep Kumar sent him an SMS with a different account number, belonging to Eswar Rao. Singh deposited the money, when he received another call from Pradeep Kumar asking that he deposit a further Rs 45,000 towards transport charges of the vehicle. However, Singh replied that he cannot afford Rs 45,000 and instead deposited Rs 20,000 in another SBI account number in the name of Imtiyaz Ansari, as per an SMS received from Pradeep Kumar.
Later, another caller, who did not identify himself, informed Singh that the vehicle has been loaded for transport and the name of the driver is Bhudeshwar Bask, who is available on the mobile number 08969084702.
On March 20, Singh called up the driver, but got no response. However, he got a call from 07033490932 on which a man informed him that the car has been seized by RT officials on the Odisha border. He further said that Singh needs to pay Rs 45,000 to get the car released, upon which Singh refused him. The caller claimed that he had liased with the RTI officials and said that Singh now had to pay just Rs 25,000, by forwarding the amount to the driver’s SBI account 20047785564. With great hopes, Singh yet again deposited Rs 25,000 and informed the caller of the same.
On March 23, Singh received a call from the same mobile number, asking for his bank account details. Singh refused, and realising that he has been cheated, approached the Cyber Crime police and lodged a complaint. A police team led by K Satyanarayana Rao investigated the case and arrested P Eswar Rao, a resident of Jamshedpur, Jharkhand.