Lease scam: Bengaluru firm’s rent default leaves 200 tenants stranded

Bengaluru: Indiranagar police have registered a case against a private firm for allegedly cheating more than 200 people of crores of rupees by promising to pay monthly house rent on behalf of tenants after collecting huge lease deposits.

A senior police officer said complainant Clifford Ryan and others filed a case against Stephen Jones, managing director of Jones Property Management.

They came into contact with the firm in June 2025.

In his complaint, Ryan alleged that the company assured him that if he paid the lease amount to the firm, it would handle the monthly rent payments to the house owner.

Trusting the firm, Ryan transferred around Rs 21 lakh through multiple online transactions to the company’s bank account. The agreement was signed on August 12, 2025, after which Ryan moved into the house.

Police said the company had also entered into an agreement with the actual house owner, Raju Benedict, assuring him that rent would be paid regularly.

However, on May 1, 2026, the house owner contacted Ryan stating that rent had not been paid for the previous six months and asked him to vacate the premises immediately.

Shocked by the development, Ryan approached the company seeking a refund of the lease amount, but did not receive any response.

When he visited the office, he discovered that several others had been cheated in a similar manner.

CID probe likely

An officer from the Indiranagar police station said Stephen Jones had earlier been booked by the Chandra Layout police in 2021 in a cheating case involving a techie who was allegedly duped of lakhs of rupees in the name of investment.

Since the company is allegedly involved in a fraud exceeding Rs 200 crore with multiple victims, the case is likely to be transferred to the CID for further investigation, police said.