Chennai: With more and more complaints coming to the cyber crime wing about cheating by con groups through online trade portals like OLX and Quikr.com, the city police have written to online classifieds websites to take measures to enhance customer satisfaction.On May 14, a 20-year-old engineering graduate, R. Saravanan approached the city police commissioner’s office, complaining that he had lost Rs1.05 lakh to a person whom he met on OLX.com.
“We posted an ad seeking customs goods - Macbook, laptop and iPhone,” Saravanan told DC.A person, calling himself Bharath Yadav and claiming to work in the airport cargo customs, approached them online saying that he can get those gadgets for cheap rates. “He even sent a picture of his ID card. So, I did not suspect initially,” says the youth. However, even before seeing the promised gadgets, Saravanan deposited Rs1.05 lakh in four SBI bank branches in the city in installments.
“He kept on dodging after getting the money and has not given the products. So, I approached the cops,” said Saravanan. Saravanan’s is not a one-off case. There are several persons who have approached the city police commissioner’s office with similar complaints.
“The conmen make use of public greed and take them for a ride. People have to be more careful,” cautions deputy commissioner, CCB, S. Jeyakumar. He added that a doctor from Thousand Lights lost Rs10,000 to buy an iPhone at a cheap rate; and a person from Kilpauk who thought he could buy a sedan worth Rs10 lakh for Rs 2 lakh ended up losing his money. A cyber crime officer says that most of the times, customers overlook the fact that these are only trade portals and assume that the websites are selling them, which comes in handy for the conmen.
