Man promises to give info on missing kin, dupes 70 families

HYDERABAD: Task Force sleuths on Thursday arrested a Bengaluru-based conman at Afzalgunj for cheating 70 families across the country by promising to share details of their missing kin in exchange for money. On a few occasions, the 26-year-old culprit had even fooled policemen.
Task Force officials said S Shiva Kumar, who studied up to class IX, used to keep an eye on 'look out notices' of missing persons posted at various places, including railway stations and advertisements in newspapers.Using family members' contact number given in the notice, Shiva used to contact them informing that he knew the location of their missing family member and would give information provided he was given money. He used to collect money ranging between Rs 1,000 and Rs 20,000 from each victim and, in many cases, he used to demand money repeatedly.
The culprit used to make the victim deposit money through M-Paisa application (available in Vodafone mobile stores). After the victim deposits money, he would switch off his mobile phone and remain inaccessible.
To make calls to the victims, he had procured 25 SIM cards by submitting fake ID proofs. Police nabbed him by tracking his mobile phone.
"On July 1, he contacted a victim through mobile phone by seeing the number in a look-out notice and informed him that he has information of his missing brother L Vamshi.
He said Vamshi was working in a small factory at Abids and asked him to come to Abids so that he would give information. After the victim reached Abids, he asked him to deposit some money for giving information about his brother.
The victim deposited Rs 11,500 at Vodafone Store through Vodafone M-Paisa. Later, he went on demanding money but provided no information,'' Task Force police said in an official release. Most of his victims belong to Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Lucknow, Vizag and Vijayawada.
"We got his photograph. Since he used to take shelter near bus stands and railway stations, an alert was issued to local lodges and he was found in a dormitory at Afzalgunj,'' Task Force inspector Raja Venkat Reddy said.