OSD to Delhi CEO cheated of Rs 2 lakh in gift card scam

New Delhi: Delhi Police on Monday claimed that an Officer on Special Duty (Elections) was allegedly cheated of Rs 2,00,000 last month after he got a message apparently from his superior — Ranbir Singh — Delhi Chief Electoral Officer, asking him to transfer the amount to him in the form of e-commerce gift cards.

According to the police, victim Jitendra Lal Gupta received the message on July 1 from a number with the profile photo of the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer, asking him for help as he was busy in an important meeting and was unable to make phone calls. Gupta was then allegedly requested to send e-commerce

gift cards worth Rs 2,00,000. Police officials of the North district cyber police station claimed that based on the IP location, the culprit is located in the city of Lagos in Nigeria. They hacked a local number in Kurukshetra. After this, they changed their profile picture to that of Ranbir Singh to carry out this scam.

According to the police, when Gupta tried to call on the number, he received a message saying he was in a meeting. He then received a link to purchase gift cards from the number.

They added that as Gupta clicked on the link, he found that his e-commerce account had been blocked. He subsequently bought gift cards worth Rs 2,00,000 through the e-commerce account of his colleague Sandeep Tiwari and paid through his bank account as he sent the link to the number, and he was asked to send gift cards worth Rs 3 lakh.

Later, the victim official contacted his senior on another number and was told by him that he had not sent any messages regarding gift cards. The police also said that meanwhile, a case had been registered under Section 420 of the IPC (cheating).