Cyber fraudsters duped customers of Rs 1.76 lakh by luring them with cheap e-bike booking from fake websites

Amid the growing demand for electric vehicles in Gujarat, cyber fraudsters have now adopted a new way of cheating customers. The Adalaj police have registered a case against a fraudster of Rs 1.76 lakh by creating a bogus website and social media page in the name of Gandhinagar-based 'Hour Electric' company and guaranteeing the delivery of e-bikes in just seven days. The e-bike of Hour Electric was advertised According to the complaint of Jai Rajnikantbhai Patel, Regional Service Manager of Chhatral-based Avor Electric Company, which has a marketing office in Amba Business Park in Adalaj, the company had placed advertisements on its official social media handles for pre-booking of its e-bikes. Meanwhile, on August 18, some customers received calls on the company's customer care number. Customers inquired about the delivery of the vehicle in 7 days In which they inquired about the scheme to deliver in seven days and the extra money demanded by the sales executive. The officials were shocked to hear this. Since the company did not release any such scheme, an investigation was immediately launched. And on the basis of the periodic information received from the customers, it was found that the fraudsters had created two fake websites that looked like the official website of the original company. Booking online by luring them with discounts Apart from this, four different fake profile pages were also created on Facebook in the name of Hour Electric. Customers were lured to book online by placing lucrative advertisements on these platforms to give huge discounts. The fraudsters took the customers into confidence and promised to deliver the vehicle to their homes within seven days. Rs 1.76 lakh was extorted by sending QR codes to customers. In addition, QR codes were sent to customers using more than seven mobile numbers including 9051074938, 8481884461, 9309763359 to get the booking amount and through which Rs 1,76,396 was transferred online from different customers. However, even after the deadline was over, the delivery of the vehicle was not received and the customers contacted the company demanding more money. Then the whole fraud was exposed. Adalaj police have registered a case in this regard and have started an exercise to get the information of fake websites, Facebook account hosts and bank account holders with the help of technical surveillance and cyber cell.