Hyderabad: The Rachakonda Cyber-crime cell solved a year-old case and arrested a Ugandan national who cheated a person of RS1.86 lakh on the pretext of selling him a car on OLX. Fredrick Ssebugenyi, 27, the accused, was arrested from Shantinagar in Bengaluru.
According to the police, K.B. Reddy from Vanasthalipuram saw an ad for a used SUV on OLX in October 2016. He contacted the seller on the mobile number posted and spoke to Fredrick, who identified himself as Kadambi Lakshmi.
Frederick told Mr Reddy that he was a foreigner whose mother hailed from Andhra Pradesh. He said that he had left his vehicle at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport and authorised the airport personnel to sell it. He then gave Mr Reddy a number and said that it was the phone number of Sonia Raj, a clearance and forwarding officer at the airport.
Frederick’s friend Jennifer spoke to Mr Reddy claiming to be Sonia and informed him that he would have to pay Rs 1.86 lakh towards parking, maintenance and demurrage fees as the vehicle had been parked there for over a month. She said that he would not be allowed to inspect the vehicle until he paid the fees. She assured him that the amount would be deducted from the final price of the vehicle.
Mr Reddy deposited Rs1.86 lakh in the bank account number provided by Jennifer. After this, she said that there had been an error in calculation and that he would have to pay some more money. At that point, Mr Reddy became suspicious and contacted the airport authorities, who made it clear that he had been cheated. He approached the police and filed a case in December 2016.
The police tracked Fredrick Ssebugenyi down, arrested him in Bengaluru, and brought him to Hyderabad on a transit warrant, where they produced him before a court and sent him to remand.
