Real-estate man cheats students with fake lease papers

The Marathahalli police on Tuesday arrested a 47-year-old real-estate agent who cheated nearly eight people with fake lease documents of a property.

Mohammed Abdul Rahim, a resident of BTM Layout, was produced before the magistrate and taken to police custody. The police suspect that Rahim could have possibly cheated several people in the city.

Investigations revealed that Rahim posted advertisements on portals like 99acres.com, commonfloor.com and magicbricks for leasing out apartments and also put up ads for apartments on sale in Whitefield and ITPB for throwaway prices.

He showed flats and houses to unsuspecting clients for which he took the keys from the owners, promising to find tenants. He would claim ownership on the properties, prepare fake lease documents, hand over the keys and scoot with the money.

He would then change his name, phone number and address on the websites and issue new advertisements to trap fresh victims. He has been doing this from 2017 and cheated several IT professionals and college students.

Whitefield DCP Abdul Ahad said eight cases have been filed against Rahim in different police stations.

The Marathahalli police arrested him based on a complaint and took him into custody for interrogation.