Man trying to get pilot training loses ₹7L to ‘academy manager’

Man trying to get pilot training loses ₹7L to ‘academy manager’ 

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Chaithanya.Swamy@timesofindia.com  05.12.2024

Bengaluru : A 23-year-old youth who wanted to get admission to a flying school for pilot training lost Rs 7 lakh after a man, claiming to be a manager at the academy, cheated him by receiving the money online. Nikhil (name changed), a resident of Wilson Garden, said in his complaint to Central CEN Crime police that he paid the money between June and July. The fraudster was identified as Amanjot Singh. Keen on joining pilot training, Nikhil searched for training schools on the internet in May and found the portal of Aviation Connectivity and Infrastructure Developers Private Limited (ACIDPL). Nikhil received a call from the number, 9958291444, on May 21 and the caller introduced himself as Amanjot Singh, a manager at Airtaxi Academy, an organ of ACIDPL. He shared details about the procedure for admission to the academy. Later, he contacted Nikhil from mobile number 9667541310 and told him about the fee structure and the instalments available for aspirants to gain admission. Singh told Nikhil that to book a seat in the academy, he should pay Rs 1 lakh as registration fee and the course fee would cost him around Rs 50 lakh. 

Singh claimed the academy was located in Hubballi. He later shared a bank account number, 428800311114, with Nikhil and asked him to make the payment. Nikhil made the online payment to this account number for registration. Singh then explained to him that he would be given the facility of paying the fee in installments for the course and provided another bank account number, 159667713108, asking him to make the payment of Rs 6 lakh as an instalment. Nikhil believed he was making payments to the academy and transferred Rs 6 lakh to the bank account number provided to him. However, after paying Rs 7lakh, Nikhil did not secure admission to the academy. Nikhil told police the academy is yet to receive approval from Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

Therefore, the academy wanted to return the money to the aspirants but since Nikhil had paid the money to the bank accounts provided by Singh, he was not eligible for a refund. Nikhil waited until Nov 27 and lodged a complaint. A senior police officer said, “We have registered a case under the Information Technology Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) section 318 (cheating) against Singh, ACIDPL, and Airtaxi Academy.” When TOI contacted the academy, they did not comment