Sion resident duped of nearly Rs 1 lakh by man posing as Army officer

Nimit Kamdar lost Rs 29,997 after giving the accused his bank account and debit card details. Representation pic/Istock

Police are looking for an imposter who cashed in on people's sentiments over the Galwan valley skirmish, and duped a Sion resident of nearly Rs 99,997 last week by pretending to purchase thousands of safety eyeglasses to donate to the Army personnel.

'For donation to jawans'
Nimit Kamdar, 22, works with his father at their optical shop in Masjid Bunder, and has been using IndiaMart mobile app for his business. On June 28, he received a text on the app from one Anand Singh, who claimed to be an Army officer, and said he wanted 4,000 safety eyeglasses.

"When I called up on the number he provided on the app, Singh said he wanted to donate 4,000 safety glasses to the jawans at the Galwan valley. He gave me another number and requested for some reference pictures," Kamdar said in his statement to the police.

Kamdar told the police that he selected a design that cost R55 a piece and that they fixed the deal for Rs 2.20 lakh. "Singh asked me to deliver the consignment to Videsh Bhavan in BKC," he said.

On July 2, Kamdar sent the parcel to the delivery location and called Singh, asking him to make the payment. However, Singh pretended to be busy and asked him wait for a while, Kamdar told the police. Around afternoon, Singh called back Kamdar and shared with him a QR code and asked him to scan it.

As soon as Kamdar scanned the code, he lost Rs 30,000, and immediately raised the issue with Singh, who claimed there was some technical problem and asked for his bank details. Kamdar forwarded both his bank account and debit card details, after which Singh made three transactions and the former lost Rs 29,997.

'Become Army vendor'
Baffled, Kamdar again called up Singh, who pretended to be clueless and asked him to transfer R40,000 more, explaining that with a deposit of R1 lakh he will become an official Army vendor and that will help him get government contracts in the future.

Kamdar sent Rs 40,000, but Singh demanded R30,000 more, then refused to collect the consignment of the eyeglasses and stopped answering his calls. That is when Kamdar realised he had been conned. He filed a complaint at the Sion police station on July 4.

"We have registered an offence against an unknown person under Sections 419 (cheating by impersonation) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code and the relevant sections of the Information Technology Act," an officer from Sion police station told mid-day.

Catch up on all the latest Mumbai news, crime news, current affairs, and a complete guide from food to things to do and events across Mumbai. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates.

Mid-Day is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@middayinfomedialtd) and stay updated with the latest news