Fake doctor dupes youth of smartphone in Bhadrachalam

A youth from Reddypalem village in Bhadrachalam lost his Rs 50,000 smartphone to an online fraudster posing as a doctor. The accused gained the victim’s trust during an OLX deal before disappearing with the mobile phone using a fake debit card

Kothagudem: A youth from Bhadrachalam in the district fell into the trap of an online fraudster and lost his valuable smartphone.

The conman, who disguised as a doctor, gained the victim’s trust before escaping with his mobile phone. The youth, Akash of Reddypalem village, had recently purchased a smartphone worth Rs 50,000 using his friend M Dharma Raju’s finance card. However, as paying the monthly instalments (EMIs) became a financial burden, he decided to sell the phone. To this end, he listed the phone’s details on popular online platform ‘OLX’.

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Upon seeing the post, an individual contacted Akash and introduced himself as a doctor working at the Bhadrachalam Area Hospital. Expressing interest in purchasing the phone, he asked Akash to meet him at the hospital in Bhadrachalam.

When the youth arrived, the individual met him while wearing a doctor’s white apron. Pretending to like the phone after inspecting it, the accused told Akash that he had emergency cases to attend to, hence he could not come out and handed over his debit card to him asking to withdraw the money himself.

Trusting the man’s words, Akash handed over the phone to him and proceeded to the ATM. When he attempted to withdraw the cash there, the machine displayed an error message saying the PIN entered was a wrong one.

Growing suspicious, he immediately tried to call the man, only to find that the fraudster had switched off his phone. Alarmed, the young man immediately rushed to the area hospital to make inquiries. Upon learning that no such person was present there, he realised that he had been deceived.

The card had a name Purushottam Naidu printed on it. The youth immediately approached the Bhadrachalam police and lodged a complaint.