Mumbai Police's Cyber Crime unit arrested two men for allegedly creating a website imitating the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority's portal and duping people under the pretext of providing flats under a government housing scheme, an official said on Sunday.
One of the accused, identified as Kalpesh Sevak, created the website, and his accomplice Amol Patel allegedly posed as a MHADA officer to deceive victims into paying Rs 30 lakh for non-existent flats, the official said.
Sevak was arrested from Mahim area of Mumbai and Patel from Nalasopara in Palghar district, he said.
The fake website, mhada.org, was designed to mislead users into making payments through an online link. The official MHADA site is http://mhada.gov.in.
MHADA, a statutory housing authority and a nodal agency of the Maharashtra government, provides affordable housing in the state.
Recently, MHADA reported the scam to the police, leading to the arrests and the filing of an FIR under relevant sections of the Bhartiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) and the Information Technology Act.
The accused used to contact aspirants looking for flats under the MHADA housing scheme after securing their details from the duplicate website.
"They used to tell the applicants that a flat is available for sale in Goregaon area for Rs 30 lakh and asked them to pay via the online link provided on the dummy website," the official said.
