Grand Theft Auto in Noida: Man Arrested for Cheating Luxury Dealerships, Wife on the Run

Last Update:18 November 2024 10:33 IST

It was alleged that the couple seized luxury cars by producing fake checks and fake payment messages. They then sold the cars at a low price and fled. Their scams have reportedly spread to many cities

The husband was arrested after a showroom management lodged a police complaint and the search for his wife is ongoing. (News18 Hindi)

How to make a profit by selling luxury cars at a lower price? A husband-wife duo in Noida has cracked the code; They didn’t just pay for the cars. The couple allegedly lived a lavish lifestyle funded by their fraud and showed fake payment messages to agents and dealers to trick staff into thinking they had paid for the cars. The fraud was revealed when the management of one of the showrooms filed a complaint with the police, after which the husband was arrested.

On Friday, police of Phase One Police Station in Noida arrested software company director Rajdev, who absconded with Tata Safari worth Rs 26 lakh by presenting a fake check authorization message. A case was registered against him and his wife Koyal Dev, who was also involved in the scam. Two police teams are looking for his wife.

According to reports, there was only Rs 995 in the account when the check for Rs 26 lakh was issued. The fraud was discovered during an internal audit at the company.

According to ACP Shaivya Goyal, Rajdev and his wife live in a flat in Cleo County Society in Phase 3 of Noida and pay rent of Rs 55,000. They run a software company called Devex in Sector 63. The couple booked a Tata Safari online on August 10 last year and paid Rs 11,000 to Sagar Motors in Sector 5. They issued a check to Sagar Motors from their personal bank account, but later produced a fake payment message showing that Rs 26 lakh had been deposited into the showroom’s account. The fraud was uncovered when Sagar Motors discovered that the check had not been cleared and the payment message was fake.

The couple took delivery of the Tata Safari by showing the fake message and then sold it through a dealer to one Lalit Kumar Dixit in Delhi for Rs 12 lakh. Further investigation revealed that this was not the first scam the couple had committed. Earlier, they had used the same fraudulent method to take delivery of Grand Vitara worth Rs 22 lakh from Rana Motors in Noida and Toyota Hilux worth Rs 30 lakh from Galaxy Toyota in Delhi’s Najafgarh.

The couple sold these vehicles at costs well below the market price. To others, it looked like they were selling the cars at a loss, but since they never paid for the cars in the first place, the sale amount continued to increase their ill-gotten gains.

Police believe the couple ran similar scams in other cities. Authorities are investigating the couple’s criminal history, including whether anyone else was involved in the fraudulent activities. The couple’s software company, Devex, is under scrutiny and police are trying to uncover the full scope of operations.

The couple had assured that the agency would not report them to the RTO, promising to pay for the vehicles after receiving the Registration Certificate (RC). After buying the RC, they quickly sold the cars and ran away. Police are also coordinating with the divisional vice department to trace additional cars purchased through fraud. A separate case was also registered against them in Himachal Pradesh.