The Metropolitan Police Crime Division, Teku, on Monday arrested two persons in the Capital for their alleged involvement in duping customers through social media.

The arrested men were identified as Amir Thapa, 22, of Sindhupalchhok, currently residing in Bhaktapur, and Aman Awal, 24, of Bhaktapur.

According to the police, Thapa and Awal are accused of duping several customers through Facebook and Whatsapp.

Acting on the complaint filed by a victim, the police started their investigation and discovered that the accused duo used to display several electronic devices like mobile phones, laptops and cameras of different brands for sale via Whatsapp and Facebook.
Interested buyers were then directed to a phone number. As soon as customers contacted the duo on the displayed number, they were asked to deposit the amount in their bank account. The duo gave customers assurances that the items would be delivered.

“However, even after receiving the amount, they were found not providing the devices to the customers. They used to ask for more money from customers citing the goods are at the border and in order to get them cleared at the border they have to pay tax,” said Superintendent of Police, Sushil Singh Rathore, information officer at Metropolitan Police Crime Division.

Police have warned people to check the reliability of online shopping sites before depositing any amount, as online frauds have become more common in the country.

Police, meanwhile, have recovered more than Rs 800,000 from a bank account of accused fraudsters who were recently taken into custody. “Further investigation into the case is underway,” said Rathore.

According to data maintained by the Nepal Police Headquarters, police recorded 368 cases related to fraud across the country in the fiscal year 2016/17. The number of cases rose to 542 in the fiscal year 2017/18. In the fiscal year 2018/19, police registered 627 cases related to fraud.
“Customers get easily lured by fraudsters after watching attractive advertisements online. Without properly investigating their veracity, they follow whatever the fraudsters say and deposit the amount. However, after receiving the money, the fraudsters become unreachable,” Rathore added.