Khammam: Five from UP held for selling duplicate Sony TVs

In order to earn more money, they bought 32 assembled smart TVs in Hyderabad and planned to sell them by fixing fake logos of Sony, Sony QR codes and star rating stickers on the display.

Khammam: Showing how innovative and tricky fraudsters can be, five persons from Uttar Pradesh managed to assemble smart television sets using local parts from Hyderabad, used a software to display international brand Sony’s welcome message when one switches on the TV, and fixed fake logos, QR Codes and star rating stickers of the company to cheat unsuspecting people in Khammam.

The Task Force and Khammam Rural police apprehended the five persons, including two minors, who were selling the duplicate Sony LED smart TVs in Khammam Rural mandal.

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Speaking to the media here on Wednesday, Khammam Rural ACP G Baswa Reddy and Task Force ACP Shiva Ramaiah said following a tip off about two persons selling duplicate TVs, police reached Edulapuram village in the mandal and caught them red-handed. They were taken into custody and were questioned, following which they confessed to police that they were from Islampur Ghasauli village in Shamli district of Uttar Pradesh and used to sell bedsheets, gas stoves and electrical gadgets in Hyderabad.

In order to earn more money, they bought 32 assembled smart TVs in Hyderabad and fixed fake logos of Sony, Sony QR codes and star rating stickers on the display. They took a house on rent at Edulapuram, where they also installed software in the TVs for displaying the ‘Sony’ welcome messages after they were switched on.

They were selling the TVs for prices ranging from Rs.15,000 to Rs.20,000 claiming they had cards of the Army Canteen Stores Department (CSD) and that the TVs were from the Army Canteen.

The accused, Saddam, Asif and Anaz Khan were remanded to judicial custody while the two minors were produced before the Juvenile Court. Cash of Rs.2.90 lakh, 32 TVs (43 inch), a car, four scooters, pen drives, mobiles phones and one Army canteen card besides fake stickers and logos were seized from the accused.