Bengaluru: Three people have been arrested for duping vehicle owners into paying traffic fines.
The suspects used an online identity card of a deceased police head constable and vehicle owners' publicly available data to run a scam on WhatsApp.
The trio obtained details of vehicles with traffic violations from the 'Traffic Fine Mobile Application' run by the Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTP). Using the vehicle details, the men searched for the owner’s contact details on the Transport Department’s website. They subsequently downloaded photographs of vehicles involved in traffic violations from the traffic police's mobile phone app.
"The suspects sent those pictures to the vehicle owners with fake bills. To appear legitimate, they sent their potential targets the ID of a deceased head constable who had served in the Bengaluru police," according to the police.
At least two vehicle owners fell prey to the scam and paid the "traffic fine" by the QR code that the suspects had sent them. They filed complaints at the central and northeast CEN police stations after the transactions did not reflect in the traffic police app.
The late head constable's daughter filed a separate complaint about the misuse of her father's ID.
Acting on the complaints, police reviewed transactions made by the victims and checked other technical evidence to zero in on the suspects.
On May 18 and 19, police arrested Ranjan Kumar Purbey, 30, Ismail Ali, 30, and Subir Malik, 27, all from Kolkata. Police also seized three mobile phones from the suspects and are reviewing their transactions.
They believe the suspects have cheated more people and are ascertaining it. Police are ascertaining the suspects' claim that they had found the head constable’s ID from a website.
Published 23 May 2024, 20:05 IST