Man accused of defrauding people with offer of fake banknotes held in Rajasthan

PTI, Mar 9, 2023, 7:08 PM IST

A22-year-old man was arrested from Rajasthan for allegedly duping people by claiming to have on sale fake Indian currency notes through an Instagram account, police said on Thursday.

Mularam, a resident of Barmer in Rajasthan, defrauded people on the pretext of selling them ”good quality” counterfeit banknotes of Rs 100 and Rs 500 denomination, they said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Cyber) Prashant Gautam said that the accused created an Instagram ID ‘@fake__currency_indian’ and uploaded videos of him dispatching what seemed to be high quality fake Indian currency notes through Amazon parcels.

The accused lured people through these videos and assured them he would provide double the amount of fake Indian currency for their money. He also started taking orders on WhatsApp, he said.

Mularam used to take payments in his UPI account linked with five bank accounts and used to speak to his targets through VOIP or over WhatsApp only. After receiving money from his targets, he used to upload a video on his Instagram account showing that he had put all the currency notes in a parcel for dispatch — but the customers never received any such parcel.

According to police, a probe was initiated after the complaint by the Deputy Secretary to Government of India, Coin and Currency Division under Ministry of Finance, which alleged that an Instagram link.

After the complaint, the Investigating Officer assigned to the case contacted the accused as a decoy customer and, as directed by the accused, transferred Rs 3,000 through UPI account to his Google Pay number.

The accused assured him that he would send fake banknotes worth Rs 6,000 through an Amazon parcel within 24 hours, but no such parcel was received.

”The accused kept changing his location across various states of India. His movements were tracked to Telangana, Haryana, Delhi, and Rajasthan. Finally, with the help of technical data and field inputs, the fraudster was located at Maitriwara, Raniwara, Jalore district in Rajasthan from where he was nabbed,” the officer said.

Mobile phones, fake coupons, and mobile accessories used in the crime were recovered from his possession, he said.