Hyderabad man duped of Rs 1 L in fake Royal Enfield dealership scam

Hyderabad: A 55-year-old employee of Orange Auto Pvt. Ltd. in Erragadda has reportedly fallen victim to a dealership scam involving fraudsters posing as representatives of Royal Enfield.

According to Borabanda Police, the complainant, P. Muralidhar, stated that the fraud began after he visited Royal Enfield website and filled out a form under the “Become a Dealer” section, expressing interest in setting up a dealership in Hyderabad.

On July 3, he received an email containing a dealership application form and detailed instructions. A person identifying himself as Pankaj from Dealer Development then contacted him to follow up.

By July 7, Muralidhar had completed the application and submitted necessary documents, including company balance sheets, PAN card, Aadhaar, company ITRs, and turnover records, by replying to an email from them.

On July 14, he received another email stating that the dealership had been approved, and a Letter of Intent (LOI) was attached. The following day, the same individual, “Pankaj,” began pressuring Muralidhar’s brother and the company’s Managing Director to pay a registration fee of Rs 1,00,000 to proceed further.

“Everything seemed legitimate—the documents, the process, and even the communication appeared official,” Muralidhar said. Due to the pressure and apparent authenticity, the amount was paid via NEFT to the bank account details mentioned in the LOI.

However, on July 16, the fraudster sent a supposed dealership agreement and began demanding an additional Rs 5,00,000 as a security deposit. This raised suspicion. On checking with the Bank, Muralidhar discovered that the account the money was transferred to was not associated with Royal Enfield but was under the name of Rahul Kumar from Ranchi, and had a balance of just Rs 200 before the transfer.

The Rs 1,00,000 was immediately withdrawn after the transaction. Muralidhar noted that the bank account name wasn’t revealed during the NEFT transaction, and the fraudster had cleverly labeled the account as that of Royal Enfield.

Realizing the fraud, he filed a complaint on the Cyber Crime portal. He was particularly shocked because the initial contact appeared to come after he submitted his details on Royal Enfield’s website. The scammer had called saying, “Hello, is this Rahul from Orange Auto? We got your details from the interest you showed for Royal Enfield dealership on our website.”

Police have registered a case on Frieday and confirmed that an investigation is currently underway.