Mumbai, January 18: A techie from Surat was arrested for allegedly duping online shoppers to the tune of Rs 1 crore. Reports inform that the software engineer fooled people by creating a fake shopping website and extracted money from the ones who shopped online from there. According to a report by TOI, the man identified as 32-year-old Ashish Bipin Ahir, had lost his job in London during the COVID-19 pandemic. The report informs that as he was in debt, he thought he would take up cybercrime as an option to clear his dues. As per the report, Ahir is a post-graduate in software applications from an institute in London. Online Fraud: 68-Year-Old Bengaluru Man Duped of Rs 7 Lakh While Booking Flight Ticket on Mobile App.

The TOI report informs that the man allegedly duped over 22,000 people on social media platforms; of which 90% were women. The fake website that was created by Ahir was named ‘shopiiee.com’, which sounds similar to some genuine websites that deal in women’s garments, jewellery among other things. The cybercrime incident came to light after a Mumbai-based woman lodged a complaint of being cheated of Rs 2,400 via online transaction. Bengaluru Techie Sexually Exploits Divorcee He Met on Dating App, Dupes Her of Rs 38 Lakh.

Soon after, a search operation was launched to nab the culprit and the cops nabbed Ahir from Surat, the cybercrime police officials said. The techie has been booked for cheating, forgery under sections of the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act and has been sent to police custody.

The TOI report states that the Police have identified a number of fake sites that dupe buyers with offers at throwaway prices and dupe them with lucrative offers. The officials added that these fake websites, which people generally fall a prey to, are on Facebook and other social media.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 18, 2021 02:59 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).