Man poses as DySP; demands air fare to Sri Lanka!

Hameed Ashraf| NT

Fraudsters are increasingly on the prowl and their methods are getting more and more innovative, sophisticated and difficult to spot.

In the latest case, a resident of Rajajeshwari Nagar was asked to book flight tickets to Sri Lanka by a caller claiming himself to be Deputy Superintendent of Police with the Anti-Corruption Bureau(ACB). In his complaint with the Halasuru Gate police station, Rajeev H.D., a Bengaluru-based project manager, stated that on March 9, he received the call from the unknown person who introduced himself as Ravi Shankar, DySP. ‘’The caller said that several cases relating to money laundering are pending against me and that he would soon investigate them,” Rajeev said in his complaint.

The caller further said that the department is planning a raid on Rajeev’s residence and office the next day. “The person went on to say that since he found me to be honest, he decided to disclose confidential information from the department,” the complainant said. “The call was then disconnected,” he added.

Rajeev ignored the call thinking somebody must have pulled a prank on him. But later, on the same day, he got another call from the same person asking him to pay for the flight charges to Sri Lanka for two department officials. The person asked Rs for 1,72,000 and demanded that Rajeev send the amount through GPay.

The caller sent two contact numbers to Rajeev and asked him to deposit the ticket amount in the linked accounts. Unable to bear the harassment, Rajeev filed a complaint.

Police officials from Halasuru Gate police station said that they have taken up a case under IPC sections 385 (Putting a person in fear of injury in order to commit extortion) and 419 (cheating with impersonation) and are investigating.