Bengaluru: While attempting to purchase an African Grey parrot at a reduced price, a 27-year-old lady lost Rs 30,000 to a con artist. A federal government employee and inhabitant of Koramangala named Shivangi Kar Bandopadhyaya reported the incidence to the police.
A Times of India story claims that Shivangi got a call from an unidentified number. The caller inquired whether she would be interested in purchasing African Grey parrots from someone he claimed to know. After confirming her curiosity, Shivangi asked to see a picture of the bird. As soon as possible, the caller shared pictures and videos of a parrot.
According to the caller, the bird was a completely tamed female with DNA verification that was between 15 and 18 months old. He gave a price quotation of Rs 40,000, which is far less than the going rate of around Rs 75,000. Shivangi said that she hadn’t included her phone number in her Facebook post about wanting to purchase a parrot. She didn’t know how the stranger got her contact information.
The caller informed her that he had already paid half of the total to the vendor and that she would be responsible for the remaining balance when she inquired about the location. She refused to pay until she had seen the bird. After that, the caller put her on a conference line with someone else and said that he had the bird. They sent her in the direction of an Infantry Road pet store.
Shivangi was shown the bird in the store, but she was unable to comprehend the shopkeeper and other people because they were speaking Kannada. With DNA proof, the shopkeeper attested that the bird fit the description. According to the TOI report, she then contacted the stranger, who told her to send Rs 30,000 to his UPI ID, “shaikjani1431@iob,” and not to tell the store owner how much it was.
Shivangi found that the caller had turned off his phone after sending the funds. She approached the merchant for the bird, but he refused to give it to her and denied being paid.
Shivangi said that there was collusion between the stranger and the store. “Why did the shopkeeper recognize me and show me the exact bird whose photos the stranger sent me if they weren’t working together?” she said. cited by TOI.
Scammer Said He Was Giving His Sweetheart the Bird
The store owner told TOI that the stranger had phoned him after locating his number online. The con artist said he wanted to purchase the bird for his girlfriend as a present, and he gave the shopkeeper instructions to show her the bird without taking money.
The shopkeeper claimed that he just gave Shivangi the bird’s data and denied any involvement in the fraud. “In my presence, the woman called the stranger and asked him if she should pay him or me,” he said. I knew right away that something wasn’t right and told her not to pay until she had further information. She wouldn’t tell me how much the bird was being sold for when I asked her. According to the Times of India, “I advised her to lodge a police complaint because this was obviously a scam.”
The store owner surmised that Shivangi was duped because she was seduced by the cheap price. Additionally, he pointed out that the TOI article said that the market value of an African Grey parrot is around Rs 75,000.
Police Are Investigating
According to Section 318 (cheating) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Information Technology Act, a complaint has been filed at the Commercial Street police station, a senior police official said. The scammer is being tracked down.
