Fake Regional Transport Office officer arrested for online vehicle challan scam

New Delhi: Ashish Sharma, a 38-year-old man, was living a life of deception. Posing as an RTO officer, he duped vehicle owners in an online challan scam. His game was simple yet clever: send fake messages to unsuspecting vehicle owners, threatening to cancel their permits unless they paid fines immediately.

But what made Ashish's scam so convincing? It turned out he had inside help. Working as a private agent at the Ghaziabad RTO, he gained unauthorised access to old vehicle registration files. He then combined this data with information from the e-Vahan app to target his victims. To appear credible, he even used police logos and officers' photos on his Truecaller profile.

Ashish's scam was just one of many e-challan scams that are on the rise. Cybercriminals have been exploiting the fear of traffic fines to trick individuals into clicking on malicious links and revealing their personal and financial information.

The scam came to light when a complaint was lodged at the Cyber Police Station of Central District. "The complainant stated that he received a phone call from someone posing as an RTO officer from Ghaziabad. The caller claimed there were unpaid challans against the complainant's commercial vehicle and warned that the vehicle's permit would be cancelled if the fine wasn't settled right away," DCP (central) M. Harsha Vardhan said.

Convinced by the caller's detailed information, the victim transferred Rs 12,500 online — only to discover later that he fell for a scam.

Following the complaint, a case was registered under sections 318 (Cheating) and 319 (Cheating by personation) of BNS. Given the technical nature of the crime, a special police team was formed. "During investigation, bank records and call detail analysis revealed that the defrauded money was transferred to an account in a bank held by one Sharma," a senior police officer said.

Using technical surveillance, police traced his movements and eventually arrested him in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh.

"During interrogation, Sharma confessed to the crime stating that he worked as a private agent at the Ghaziabad RTO office, where he got unauthorised access to old vehicle registration files stored in unsecured gallery areas. He also used the e-Vahan app to obtain additional data," the senior police officer added.

Two mobile phones and bank kits from multiple banks were recovered from him. Further investigation is underway.