Elderly couple loses Rs 18,000 to fake mechanics on Hosur highway in Bengaluru

Bengaluru: Fraudsters posing as mechanics are targeting elderly drivers on the national highway between Hosur and Electronics City, with victims losing significant sums of money. In the latest incident, Tamil Nadu resident N Lakshmanan, 76, and his 70-year-old wife were duped of Rs 18,000 between 1 and 1.20pm on Sept 2 during their journey from Chennai to Bengaluru.This is not a one-off incident: Scamsters extorting elderly people driving vehicles registered outside the state were reported by netizens in recent months. X user @manachittooru, in a post one month ago, alerted people about a gang of fraudsters demanding Rs 400 as "road safety fee" on Chennai-Bengaluru highway by handing out a yellow flyer. In the latest incident, the couple on their way from Chennai was stopped 4-5 km from Hosur by two young men on a motorcycle, pretending to be mechanics. They wrongly alerted the senior citizens about smoke emanating from their car. The scammers, one of whom identified himself as Prakash, claimed a sensor in the vehicle was faulty and needed to be repaired immediately. Under the guise of fixing the issue, the two scamsters made the couple pay an inflated amount. In a state of panic and without any assistance, Lakshmanan said they paid the scamsters. "We were very concerned and wanted to reach Bengaluru as soon as possible," he said. Lakshmanan withdrew Rs 15,000 from an ATM using his wife's credit card and added Rs 3,000 from his wallet to meet the scammers' demands. It was only after consulting a Maruti service station near Sanjaynagar last week that the couple realised they had been cheated, as no repairs were made to their vehicle. Bengaluru Rural Police said they are yet to receive a complaint about this incident. "If we get a report, we will act immediately," Bengaluru Rural SP CK Baba told TOI.Explaining why he didn't file a police complaint, Lakshmanan said: "My vehicle is registered in Tamil Nadu, and I'm not settled in Karnataka. If I file a case, I'll have to come to Bengaluru very often, which is not practical for us at this age."Despite their ordeal, the septuagenarian couple was hopeful that sharing their story would prevent others from falling prey to such fraudsters.