Bhubaneswar: A mother-son duo was arrested by Nayapalli police on Wednesday for allegedly duping more than 70 students of around Rs 5 lakh on the pretext of providing rented accommodation in the state capital, police said.
The accused allegedly targeted students by posting rental advertisements on an online classifieds platform and collecting advance payments from prospective tenants without handing over the accommodation or refunding their money.
The alleged fraud was being operated from the Paika Nagar area of Bhubaneswar, with students from Odisha and other states among those targeted. The victims were allegedly cheated of amounts ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 26,000 each.
According to one of the victims, an MCA student from Paradeep in Jagatsinghpur district, he came across the rental advertisement on September 29 and contacted the accused.
“After contacting them, I visited the property on October 1 and paid Rs 8,000 as an advance. On October 3, the woman’s son called me and said I had to make the full payment as they would hand over the house on October 6. Accordingly, I paid the remaining amount, taking the total payment to Rs 18,000. However, when I contacted them from October 11 onwards, they kept asking me to come the next day. This continued repeatedly, but they neither handed over the house nor returned my money,” he alleged.
Another victim said he had paid Rs 16,000 to the accused but was neither provided accommodation nor refunded the amount.
“I told them that I was staying in hotels while waiting for the house, but they neither provided the accommodation nor returned my money. I subsequently lodged a complaint at the police station,” he said.
A female victim alleged that she had paid Rs 26,000 to the duo, including Rs 17,000 through UPI and another Rs 9,000 paid by her father.
“The woman emotionally appealed to us for money, saying that her son was unwell. My father gave her Rs 9,000, which she promised would be adjusted against the following month’s rent. I had also transferred Rs 17,000 through UPI. However, they did not provide the house. Despite repeated requests, they failed to return the money, following which we lodged a police complaint,” she alleged.
Following complaints from several victims, Nayapalli police arrested the woman and her son and forwarded them to court, police said.
