Fraudsters fake rides, drain Ola, Uber, Rapido pockets

Hameed Ashraf | NT

Bengaluru: Central Crime Branch sleuths arrested three persons for allegedly cheating cab aggregators Ola, Uber and Rapido by feeding fake ride details to earn incentives illegally.

According to the police, the racket was first busted by the cybercrime cops following which a detailed probe was initiated into the matter. The prime accused identified as Manoj Kumar, used to attach cars to cab aggregators and was coordinating with the driver by taking details of their trips and uploading them on the cab service application to get incentives. Later, he roped in two of his associates, Sachin and Shankar to assist him.

Police sources said that one of his associates is an executive of a finance company while the other is a SIM card distributor with a telecom company. Teaming up, the trio created fake documents and provided over 1,000 pre-activated SIM cards to drivers. Later, using those documents, Manoj Kumar created fake trip details and updated them into the Ola, Uber and Rapido applications.

The trio would share the incentives earned by the modus operandi. However, one of the drivers noticed Manoj Kumar using different mobile phones and updating fake details into the applications following which he approached the police and filed a complaint. A team of CCB officials arrested Manoj Kumar and raided his work station in Kalyan Nagar on Tuesday.

Based on his information, the police also arrested his associates. The CCB seized equipment, which included 1,055 pre-activated SIM cards, 15 mobile phones, four laptops and other electronic gadgets. The trio has been booked under IT Act, Indian Telegraph Act for cheating and forgery