Couple lose Rs 12.69 lakhtrying to buy oxygen gear

They made online transfers to a Mumbai woman, who vanished when the delivery was due

A couple lost Rs 12.69 lakh when they tried to buy oxygen concentrators from a Mumbai firm.

Vandana and Stuart Vanderveen, residents of Bhoopasandra, near Sanjay Nagar became victims of a cyber scam when they tried to procure oxygen to help 17 families in urgent need.

After research online, the couple zeroed in on a firm called Surabhi Enterprises and made payments. The concentrators never arrived. Company representatives stopped taking calls.

The couple have registered a case at the cyber police station in the north division, Bengaluru.

“We saw many people around us struggling and wanted to do our bit by selling oxygen at MRP at a time when people are paying huge amounts to buy them,” Vandana told Metrolife.

She has now pawned jewellery and borrowed from friends and family to repay people who had paid advances for the oxygen concentrators.

“This is a question of life and death. I don’t know how people can betray someone’s trust at this time,” says Vandana, choking with grief.

The couple, who are from the hospitality industry, run their own enterprise.

Dharmender Kumar Meena, DCP, north division, says, “They placed three orders and communicated with Swati Sharma, whose phone number was on the website, between May 4 and 7. The delivery was expected on May 6,” Meena tells Metrolife.

The couple transferred the money to two accounts in IDFC First Bank and Catholic Syrian Bank. “We wrote to the banks to immediately freeze both accounts, but found the accounts had no money. The frauds must have immediately withdrawn the money,” says Meena.

The police are in the process of finding out if the company really exists or if someone has just used its credentials to run the scam.

“They have used the name of one enterprise to lure investments from another enterprise. When we traced the details of the number, we found out that it had its origin in Delhi, while the enterprise in question is located in Mumbai. They are using oxygen concentrators as the peg because that is what is in demand right now,” says Meena.