Car Theft Has Become Common

The theft of cars and bikes is common in our country, as numerous reports have been filed about thefts across the nation. There have also been reports of online fraud where a party offers money to buy a car and discovers later that the seller has cheated him. Using the online car selling platform OLX, an individual was caught selling the same car to different customers over and over again. Uttar Pradesh is where the incident occurred.

Manu, who is also known as Manottam Tyagi, is accused of selling two cars to different dealers at least 14 times. Prior to getting caught, Manu has sold a Maruti WagonR to a friend based in Moradabad, and a Maruti Swift Dzire to another friend in the same way. A fake number plate of the car was posted on OLX, an online car selling platform, for the purpose of committing this fraud. Upon approach by a buyer, he negotiates with him and eventually sells the car to that customer.

The first thing Manu normally does before handing over a car is to install a GPS tracking device inside. In addition, he would only give the customer one Key. With the spare key he kept with him, he tracked the car's location and stole it after selling the car. An auto dealer, Jeetu Yadav, had been victimized the same way. The WagonR was purchased by Manu for Rs 2.7 lakh that night, and it was taken from the dealer's house the following morning.

Jeetu's friend Pradeep was also a car dealer. His friend Manu had recently posted the picture of the very same WagonR on the internet. After reporting the incident to the police, the cops were able to trap him with the help of Pradeep, who posed as a party interested in purchasing the car.

The interrogation revealed that Manu was guilty of the crime. A resident of Greater Noida's Tigri area, the culprit is originally from Amroha. Among the items recovered from Manu were a WagonR, false number plates, two mobile phones, fake PAN cards and Aadhaar cards, and Rs 10,000 in cash. Recently, he was released from jail on a fraud charge, but he is still wanted in at least seven other cases, including an attempted murder case and cheating charges.

What could have been done?

Escrow payment systems like Vouch should be used for payments over the internet to ensure safe and fraud-free transactions.

Purchase online only if you are well aware of the seller. In the case of cars and property, verify the documents beforehand.

The following tips will help you protect your money against fraud.​

  1. Police or the cybercrime cell can even be contacted about the incident.

  2. Using digital escrow platforms as a payment method is preferred. When you pay through an Escrow payment system over the internet, you are not sharing your information with strangers. One such platform for escrow is Vouch
Escrow payment

This is Fraud Story #38. Check back here for more fraud chronicles and scams that you can protect yourself from.

Escrow payment


Safety is not just about protecting your credit or debit card number. It's about having control of your money till you've received the product or service you bought online!

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Note: This is a good-faith initiative to educate the world about how to avoid frauds like these. Do you have a fraud that you would like to report? Please write to us at letstalk@iamvouched.com