Cybercriminals who cheated traders using OLX and Justdial during lockdown busted by Agra Police

Cybercriminals during the lockdown were on a lookout for new techniques to dupe people, Agra police have busted a gang who floated fake transport firms and advertised it on Google, OLX, JustDial and other online classified portals. The gang offered cheap transports of good during the lockdown and duped several traders.

According to the police, during the lockdown, when traders and suppliers were looking for a cheap delivery option to transport their products, cybercriminals had already set a trap. Anticipating a huge surge in transport, the gang had registered several fake transport companies on online classified portals like OLX, JustDial, movers and packers, eTrucks etc and paid extra to get featured in top search results. They offered a dirt-cheap price for transport so that they could get more and more query.

Trusting the results traders and entrepreneurs tried to avail the services but were duped by the gang who demanded the money in advance. Giriraj Sharma, who wanted to get 16 tonnes of Onion from Maharashtra was duped to the tune of Rs 50,000.

Similarly, another trader Praveen Agarwal who had to send a truck full of iron rods to Morena area in Madhya Pradesh was cheated of Rs 12,000. On the complaints given by them, cops swung into action and started electronic surveillance following which four members of the gang were arrested. Accused have been identified as Ramavtar, Ankush Tomar, Neeraj and Babloo Sharma.

Police team of Udyaveer Malik, Pradeep Kumar (Cyber Cell), Vineet Rana, Amit Kumar, Babloo Kumar (Cyber Cell), Vijay Tomar (Cyber Cell), Jitendra Babu (Cyber Cell), Intezar (Cyber Cell) and Kuldeep were involved in the crackdown.