Chennai: Police are searching for a conman who has vanished after ‘hiring’ out expensive cameras and lenses from camera rental services in the city.
According to Vinodhraj, who appears to be the latest victim, a man claiming to be Siva on February 9 responded to his online classified advertisement offering cameras on rent and wanted to take on rent a Canon 5D Mk-III along with kit lenses, valued at over Rs 4 lakh. The ‘client’ said he would send his assistant Siva to collect the camera and accessories.
Within a short time, ‘Karthik’ landed at Vinodhraj’s studio. When the latter asked Karthik for his ID, he was told that Siva had already mailed him the ID. Since Vinodhraj had left his mobile phone on his table before rushing down to attend to ‘customer’ Karthik, he could not immediately verify the mail to check the ID. Not wanting to keep the 'client' waiting, he handed over the camera and lenses to Karthik. Only later did he realize there was no mail with ID and when he called the phone number from where Siva had first spoken to him, the phone had been switched off.
“I think both Siva and Karthik could be the same person. They sounded similar. After I circulated the video grab of Karthik, captured by my CCTV, I have been receiving many calls from other camera rental services. It appears that this conman had used the same trick to rob others doing business in Vadapalani area”, Vinodhraj told DC.
