Fraud: 20-yr-old pays ₹9,000 for smartphone, gets glass slab

The complainant, a Delhi resident, was waiting for an autorickshaw on the road when he was approached by the seller, who claimed to be in urgent need of money and showed him a brand new phone worth ₹34,000

A 20-year-old Delhi resident who works in the city was duped of ₹9,000 by an unidentified person, who sold him a smartphone that later turned out to be a glass slab, at the Sector 52 crossing on Monday, the police said.

The complainant displays the glass slab he found inside the package sold by an unidentified man in Sector 52.

Shivam Mishra, a resident of Rohini in Delhi, works as support staff at a private hospital in Sector 43. Around 2.30pm on Monday, he was waiting for an autorickshaw to travel from Sector 57 to the Huda City Centre Metro station when the phone seller accosted him.

Mishra said the man was travelling on a scooter and intercepted him on his way. “He took out a pouch from his bag and showed me a new mobile phone worth ₹34,000 and offered it to me at a hugely discounted price. He told me that he is a Jaipur resident and works with a mobile manufacturing company. He said he was in urgent need of money,” he said.

Mishra also inspected the phone and finalised a deal for ₹9,000. After paying the money, the seller left the spot before he could open it, claiming he was in a hurry. “He fled on a scooter. I tried to open the pouch but it got stuck,” he said.

Mishra said that the pouch was sealed with hard adhesive and it took him 10 minutes to tear it off and find the glass slab inside it.

KK Rao, the commissioner of police, said, “Similar modus operandi was reported earlier in 2014 and six gangs were arrested. Many awareness programmes were launched and hoardings were installed but they are active once again.”

The police said they are checking criminal records of repeat offenders and tracking their numbers to check for their involvement. Also, CCTV footage from the location is being checked, the police said.