Used car scam? Multiple UPI IDs sent funds, now bank account is frozen

This week, his account was suddenly frozen with a complete hold on transactions. He went to the branch and was given the copy of order from cybercrime department requesting for asset freeze.

BHPian theflyingguy recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

A colleague of mine seems to have become victim of fraud for no fault of his. He wanted to sell his Amaze and listed it on multiple sites. He was expecting around 4.5 lakh for the car. A person contacted him for test drive and told him that he is a small-time reseller and has a buyer ready at 4.3. He also said that his commission would be 5k only once my colleague receives full amount for car.

My colleague agreed to this and car was sold. The commission agent transferred full amount of 4.3 lakh to my colleague via multiple accounts citing UPI limit of 1 lakh per day. My colleague gave 5k INR cash commission to this agent. The new buyer registered the car in his name and that was the end of transaction for my colleague. This was done about 2 months back.

This week, his account was suddenly frozen with a complete hold on transactions. On enquiring, he was told that this is as per request by cybercrime unit. He went to the branch and was given the copy of order from cybercrime department requesting for asset freeze. He reached out to the police and was told that the accounts from which he received the funds were related to financial scams like OTP fraud. Hence, all account which received money from these accounts were frozen.

The buyer of the car has not received any notice or summon and the commission agent is nowhere to be found. The buyer is ok to testify that he bought the car but since the transfer of funds did not happen directly between buyer and seller, it may not be of much use. My colleague has been asked to provide evidence that he is not beneficiary of the scam and the amount credited is for legitimate reasons failing to which, he would lose all the amount received for car sale and would also need to face the legal proceedings.

Not sure how this will proceed but it is scary to imagine that there is little or no way of knowing that accounts you are sending money to or receiving from are fraud related and you just stand to lose everything completely randomly.

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