Con couple cheats techie of smartphone

A couple posing as customers robbed a techie’s smartphone recently.

According to the police, Ankur Singhal (25), a resident of BTM Layout and the victim, had advertised on OLX, an online marketplace, about his handset for sale.

On July 11, a man introducing himself as Balaji contacted Ankur and expressed willingness to buy the phone. He requested Ankur to meet him at a pizza joint at JP Morgan on the same day.

A little later Balaji called up Ankur and told him that he was unable to meet, but his girlfriend Pooja would meet and finalise the deal. Ankur met Pooja, handed over the phone and communicated the same to Balaji.Within a few minutes, Balaji called up Ankur and claimed that he had transferred Rs 29,500 to the latter’s bank account. He even requested Ankur to verify an SMS alert for confirmation.

Ankur verified the message and confirmed that he had received the funds. The fraud came to light when Ankur checked the balance in his account. He later realised that Balaji had sent the message projecting it as having been sent by the bank.

The Marathahalli police are verifying CCTV footage.