Oxygen cylinder scam: 3 held for cheating patients

New Delhi: The Delhi Police Crime Branch on Wednesday said it has arrested two people for allegedly cheating patients to the tune of nearly Rs 70 lakh on the pretext of providing them with oxygen cylinders.

As per police, a complainant, Nandini Sood, claimed that she was in urgent need of an oxygen cylinder for her relative who had tested positive for Covid-19. Thereafter, she came across some phone numbers which were claiming to provide oxygen cylinders to patients. The complainant accordingly made a deal with the accused persons and paid them Rs 48,000 in two installments through Google Pay.

However, the contact number was later found unreachable and the accused persons went incommunicado when contacted by the complainant, police said.

After a case was lodged under appropriate sections, investigation revealed that the accused had cheated several such people under the pretext of providing them with oxygen cylinders which they were selling at inflated costs, police said.

Probe further revealed that the accused had created fake online accounts in connivance with a postman who used to deliver ATM cards of accounts created through fake addresses by the accused, to the duo. They transferred all the cheated money to these accounts. The accused used to find patients in urgent need of oxygen supply and duped them of around Rs 60 to 70 lakh by assuring them the delivery to specified locations in the city.