The Southeast Division of the Cybercrime Economic Offences and Narcotics (CEN) police arrested four persons in an alleged cheating case using the logistics company Porter’s online app. The accused caused losses worth ₹90 lakh to Porter.
Shreyas from Hassan district, Kaushik and Ranganath from Mandya, have been identified as the accused.
According to the police, the accused were using ‘geo-spoofing’ (falsifying location on the internet) to create fake drivers’ and customers’ accounts on Porter. One of the accused, who was arrested by the police on September 21, allegedly revealed that he would book an order on the app from his fake customer account from a location where there were not many Porter drivers. He would then use his fake driver account to ensure that the ride was designated to him and then make a payment through the customer’s wallet.
He would then start and end the trip in the same location with geo-spoofing and immediately transfer money which would come to the driver’s wallet to an external account. He would then allegedly complain from his fake customer account that the trip had ended without completing the delivery. He would then receive a refund of the money he had earlier paid.
A total of six persons allegedly followed this modus operandi and caused ₹90 lakh worth of losses to Porter for eight months. During a business audit in July, Porter found out about the losses and realised that they were being cheated. An assistant manager of Smart Shift Logistics Solutions Pvt. Ltd., the company to which Porter belongs, then complained to the Southeast division CEN station.
The police then took up the investigation and secured the KYC details of the company’s bank accounts. Then they gathered the KYC details of the accounts into which the highest amount of money was transferred within a short period from the company’s account. Further, with the help of the phone numbers of the accused, social media accounts, technological data, and inputs from informants, they identified four people who were involved in the racket.
The accused had allegedly used the bank accounts of their friends and family to transfer the money they received from Porter and later transferred it to their accounts via UPI. They had also used fake vehicle registration numbers to create driver accounts. The investigation has revealed that the accused had used the money to construct a house near Peenya and lead a luxurious lifestyle. The police have not been able to recover any money in the case as it was all spent.
The investigation also shows that the accused allegedly cheated Porter company in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and West Bengal while staying in Bengaluru with the help of geo-spoofing.
Published – October 18, 2024 10:25 pm IST
