Ola electric scooter scam of more than Rs. 1000 crore busted: Delhi police arrests a gang of 20

Replicating the Tesla model, Ola Electric started selling its electric scooters in the Indian market without a dealership network. Taking advantage of the same, dupers scammed more than Rs 1,000 crore from unsuspecting customers. Delhi Police on Monday arrested a gang of 20 members from various locations in India.

The gang duped over 1,000 people from various parts of the country. The police made arrests from locations like Bengaluru in Karnataka, Gurugram in Haryana, and Patna, Bihar. Devesh Mahla gave out the information while revealing that the gang scammed people on the context of selling the Ola electric scooter.

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A case of cheating was registered on the basis on complaint received by the Cyber Police on October 7. Police said that the two masterminds from Bengaluru designed a fake Ola electric scooter website to scam people. The gang targeted gullible people who did a web search on Ola electric scooters and wanted to know more about the vehicle on the website.

As soon people used to share the details on the website, the men located in Bengaluru used to share the mobile numbers and other details to the gang members located in other states.  The gang members then made calls from Bihar and Telangana and would ask the victims to transfer Rs 499 as a booking amount for the Ola electric scooter.

Further, they asked the customers to deposit Rs 60,000 to 70,000 in the name of insurance and transportation charges for the electric scooter.

How the scammers worked?

The complainant said that he was first trying to book the scooter online through the Ola app. It is the only official way of booking the scooter and paying for it. However, he wanted to apply for a loan and could not complete the process on the app. On the same day, he received a call from someone who claimed to be an official from Ola Electric. The person explained the whole offline process to him.

The next day, he received another call from the same person who demanded for Rs 499 to book the scooter. He provided an online link of PayU. In return, the complainant received a booking confirmation slip that stated that the booking process has initiated.

The very next day, the complainant received an email about the finance options and as per the suggestion made by the scammer, the complainant decided to go with Ola Money for finance. The scammer sent a downpayment link of Rs 30,000 on WhatsApp. It was another PayU link.

According to the agreement sent by the scammer, the complainant agreed to pay Rs 30,000 as a downpayment and remaining amount in EMIs. The complainant also shared an email where he showed that the scammers sent him an email showing the sanctioned amount of Rs 72,000.

The complainant then paid the rest of the amount and asked the scammer to start the process. The scammer then asked for Rs 13,000 as delivery charges and also promised to deliver the scooter on the same day. After this, the complainant filed a police complaint in the Cyber cell department.

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