The Cyber Prevention Awareness and Detection (CyPAD) on Friday arrested a school dropout who duped more than 500 people and earned over Rs 1 lakh, in the name of installation of mobile towers on their land and giving them unbelievable returns in Delhi.
"The accused identified as Ritesh around five-six years ago started working as a tele-caller in a Delhi-based call centre where he met some other like-minded persons who were looking to make easy money. Together, they hatched this plan that took shape in 2015," a CyPAD press release said.
"Working on the idea of "Make them an offer they can't refuse", his modus operandi was to publish an advertisement in the newspaper that he will give Rs 30 lakh to people for letting him use their land and for installation of mobile tower, he promised to pay Rs 60 thousand per month as rent to target people. He targeted people in Kerala, Assam, Maharashtra, etc," stated the press release.
"When people got suspicious of these advertisements, he changed the name of his company and started a new company and started publishing advertisements in a similar manner. This time, he offered Rs 18 lakhs for land and Rs 28 thousand per month as rent," it further said.
In a confession to the CyPAD, the accused confessed of about earning over Rs 1 lakh. The CyPAD is analysing his bank account statements to establish the exact amount cheated so far and the identity of the victims.
It is roughly estimated that he has managed to con people of around Rs 1 crore since he started doing this in 2015.
Further investigation of the case is underway.
( With inputs from ANI )