Conmen managed to dupe a dozen victims in NCR

Reena Verma (name changed on request) was on cloud nine when her husband gifted an iPhone on their wedding anniversary on December 28.

Reena Verma (name changed on request) was on cloud nine when her husband gifted an iPhone on their wedding anniversary on December 28. But her anger knew no bounds when she opened the gift pack, for it had a detergent cake inside. She could never imagine her husband would play such a prank on her ‘on the most important day of our life’.

HT Image

It took hours for Raghu Verma to convince his furious wife that he was innocent and was fooled by conmen.

“I was in a hurry. I handed over Rs20,000 to the conmen. After the birthday cake was cut, I gave the gift to her. All hell broke loose when she found that the iPhone was a detergent cake,” said Raghu.

Raghu did not report the matter to the police as he did not want to become a butt of a joke. After HT reported the case, many victims have come forward to help the police in the investigation. On January 12, the police arrested two persons for cheating people.

The police said more than a dozen people were duped by the duo in NCR. Abhijeet Chatterjee, an engineer, said, “They approached me saying that they want to sell the iPhone as they needed money for a surgery. They told me it was imported and had all papers related to customs clearance. I gave Rs10,000 and asked them to collect the rest from my home.”

Another victim Ankit Gupta, a resident of Ardee City, shelled out Rs30,000 for two soap cakes. “One of them showed me an iPhone and kept it in his pocket. They were carrying iPhone accessories and bills. The deal sounded lucrative. I paid a huge price.”