New Delhi, May 24 (IANS): A 24-year-old youth recently duped an Indian Air Force officer of Rs 75,000. Using a unique modus operandi, he used fake IDs of army and paramilitary personnel on e-commerce platforms such as OLX to win over the trust of the victims, after copying the photographs from genuine Facebook and Instagram profiles.

The same happened with an IAF personnel while he was trying to sell his old furniture online on the popular e-commerce platform, OLX. He was contacted by a person who claimed to be one Sahil, a constable with the CISF.

"The accused agreed to buy the furniture at the price quoted by the victim and said that since he was posted in a remote area in Rajasthan, he could not come over to make the payment or collect the item personally, and hence, he would make an advance payment through an UPI platform. Since the complainant did not have a functional app for the same, he gave the number of his sister-in-law. The accused sent an UPI link to the complainant's sister-in-law for payment, but instead of money being credited, it was debited from her account on multiple occasions," said ADCP, Cyber Crime, Anyesh Roy.

During the investigation, the main culprit was found to be one 24-year-old named Ajruddin from Mewat region in Haryana, who has made conning people his profession. While they were on the run for some time, technical surveillance helped the police nab them from near the Nuh bus stand.

Describing the modus operandi, Roy described, "On the pretext of being posted in difficult terrains, the accused persons assured the victims that they would make advance payment for the product that they want to buy. However, the UPI link generated by them and sent to the victims didn't credit into the victims' accounts, but debited the money."

Ajruddin has been sent to judicial custody, while efforts are on to nab his other associates.