Tuesday, 19 December 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The cyber crime police station of Uttarakhand Special Task Force (STF) has arrested a gang member from Chhattisgarh who allegedly committed fraud of over Rs 24 lakh in the name of providing franchises of famous eateries like McDonald’s and KFC. The accused have been identified as Suraj Kumar (24) and Rampravesh Prasad (55) and both are residents of Chhattisgarh, said the deputy superintendent of police of STF’s cyber crime police station Ankush Mishra. He said that a man belonging to Dehradun registered a complaint against unknown men who duped him of Rs 24.3 lakh in the name of providing him franchise of KFC. According to him, he searched online to get information about getting a franchise of KFC and came across an email on a website where he applied to get the franchise. After this, he received a call from a man who claimed to be an official from Sapphire Foods India Limited, stating it to be a registered partner of KFC and informed him about his application being approved. He asked him for the registration fee along with the necessary documents required for the registration. The complainant said that the accused duped him over Rs 24.3 lakh by approaching him from different mobile numbers in the name of giving him the KFC franchise. Mishra added that the police started the investigation and finally nabbed both accused from Chhattisgarh on Sunday.
He said that a preliminary investigation of STF revealed that the gang has duped several people across the country by creating such fake websites of famous restaurant chains. The teams are getting more information about it from police of other states as well. He also appealed to the citizens to verify the background of each agency thoroughly before making any online transaction for any purpose. In case one gets scammed, immediately register a complaint as it increases the chances of nabbing the accused and recovering the money, the DSP added.
