Two from Bihar arrested on charges of online fraud

The Cybercrime, Economics Offences, and Narcotics (CEN) police wing of the Udupi district police have arrested two persons from Bihar on charges of defrauding a resident to the tune of ₹5.72 lakh in an online fraud case. They recovered mobile phones, laptops, and cash, totally worth ₹6.15 lakh, from the accused.

The police identified the accused as Dev Harsha, 20, and Chandan Kumar, 29, both residents of Nalanda district in Bihar. They recovered 10 mobile phones worth ₹97,000, four laptops worth ₹68,000, and ₹4.5 lakh in cash from them.

The victim told the CEN police that he applied to become a franchisee of Campa Cola through campacolabusiness.com, thinking that it was the official website of the company under the Reliance brand. Later, he received telephone calls from people claiming to be from Campa Cola. They collected additional documents, followed by deposit money of ₹5.72 lakh. When the accused demanded more money, the victim became suspicious and approached the police.

The CEN police launched an investigation under the direction of Assistant Superintendent of Police Harsha Priyamvada and Police Inspector Nilesh G. Chavan. A special team conducted probes in Bihar and Bengaluru and zeroed in on the duo.