MUMBAI: A senior citizen fr-om Powai was duped of nearly Rs 4 lakh by a fraudster who posed as an army man and got in touch with him a day after he posted an advertisement on a real estate database website to rent his Thane flat.
On July 18, the fraudster, who identified himself as Subedar Major Zora Singh, contacted the 66-year-old retired company executive and said he was interested in the flat and agreed to pay Rs 2 lakh deposit and Rs 35,000 monthly rent.
“Singh told me to transfer Rs 50,000 to activate his ‘Army Merchant Card Account’ so that he could make the transactions. I believed him and did as told. But he called me again and said he has not received the money. He asked me to transfer another Rs 49,000, which I did. Later, he called me and said he has transferred Rs 4 lakh into my account.” When the money was not credited into his account, the victim called Singh, but his phone was switched off. He then filed a co-mplaint. “We have sought details of the fraudster’s account and asked the bank to freeze the transactions. We are trying to trace him through call data rec-ords,” said a cop.
