Indore (Madhya Pradesh): An agriculture equipment manufacturer was allegedly duped of Rs 11,500 by a conman on the pretext of providing a loan to him, the police said on Sunday. The complainant had applied for a loan online and the conman had made a phone call to him regarding the same.  

Additional DCP (zone-1) Alok Sharma informed mediapersons that Shubham Mandloi, a resident of Rau, lodged a complaint with the cyber helpdesk of zone-1 that his father had borrowed a loan from a finance company. The father had also applied for another loan online, recently. He had received a call regarding the same and the caller had posed himself as the officer of the finance company.  

The conman informed him that he had to pay a processing fee of Rs 2,550 and the complainant’s father transferred the same to him in a bank account. After that he received another call on WhatsApp and the caller informed him that he had to pay Rs 8,999 for TDS. The complainant’s father then transferred the demanded amount.  

The conman called him for the third time and informed that Rs 17,000 was needed as GST. Then, his father doubted the caller and cut the call. Later, he reached the cyber helpdesk and lodged a complaint. On the basis of the mobile number, the police have started a search for the accused and his bank account and started an investigation to hold the bank account of the accused.