BHUBANESWAR: In yet another case of cheque fraud through magic ink pen, miscreants duped a trader to the tune of Rs 76, 500 in Balianta area here. The businessman, Krushna Kumar Padhi of Kesura, on Sunday lodged a complaint with Balianta police alleging that he was looted on the pretext of availing cash credit services from a private bank.
As per the complaint, Padhi received a phone call on March 4 in which the caller identified himself as a senior employee of the bank and offered loans and cash credit to him. When Padhi agreed to avail it, the caller said one of the bank representatives would visit his business establishment and collect the required documents.
On March 6, a man, identifying himself as the bank employee, visited Padhi’s shop near Hanspal here and collected the documents along with two cheques, including a cancelled one, from him. While on one cheque, the man wrote Rs 149 with his pen stating that it was the processing fee charged by the bank, he wrote cancelled on the other one.
Suspecting foul play, Padhi immediately contacted his bank and came to know that a person named Rajat Kumar Sharma had deposited his cheque and withdrawn Rs 76,500. Padhi suspected that the fraudster used a magic ink pen and then manipulated the content of the cheque to withdraw the money. On March 5, Somnath Sahoo, a resident of Jagamara here, was duped of Rs 22,500 on the pretext of availing a personal loan by the fraudster by using magic ink pen.In both the incidents, the same mobile number was reportedly used to contact the victims, while the manipulated cheques also had the same name, Rajat Kumar Sharma.