GHAZIABAD: A 25-year-old man has been arrested by Ghaziabad police in Bareilly for allegedly cheating youngsters online of lakhs on the pretext of selling online tools like guns for playing battle games like PUBG. The arrest was made by a joint team of the cyber cell and Sihani Gate police station.
According to police, the accused has been identified as Vishant Babu alias Illu, a resident of Bareilly. The MA graduate has allegedly cheated about 100 children, most of them aged between 10-16 years and avid players of PUBG and similar games, over the past one year. Police have traced transactions of around Rs 20 lakh to his bank account.
Abhay Kumar Mishra, officer in charge of the cyber cell as well as circle officer of Indirapuram police station, told TOI that Babu created a page on Instagram, ‘Game Gun’. He offered gullible children tools like battle guns for use in the online games at prices starting from Rs 799, Mishra said.
“Once someone enquired about the gun, the accused asked them to send their identity proof and game ID. After they selected a gun, Babu asked them to send photos of their debit or credit card,” he said. “After that, they would be asked to tell him the OTP they received. At first, Babu would make an online transfer of the price of the gun. On the pretext of activating the battle gun in the target’s gaming ID, the victim would be sent another OTP, which the accused would use to transfer money to his account or purchase items online,” Mishra said.
The matter came to light after Lalit Mohan Tiwari, a resident of Patel Nagar-2, filed a complaint on April 28 alleging an unidentified person withdrew Rs 2.1 lakh from his bank account. Police investigation revealed that Tiwari’s 14-year-old son used to play PUBG and had sent his debit card photos and the OTP to Babu.
An FIR was filed under sections 420 (cheating) and 406 (criminal breach of trust) of IPC and relevant sections of IT Act. Babu was arrested on Thursday. He was brought to Ghaziabad and sent to judicial custody.
