Bungalow Rental Scam: Couple Arrested for Defrauding a Police Officer
Title: Bungalow Rental Scam: Couple Arrested for Defrauding a Police Officer
Content: Highly criticized on social media and actively pursued by the police, investigators from the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) of Phoenix successfully located and apprehended the duo, 27-year-old Alisha Bullywon and her boyfriend, 26-year-old Lovish Prayag.
The antics of this young woman, suspected of having specialized in a modern scam with the help of her partner, were exposed on social media, particularly Facebook. Using various accounts and pseudonyms, they posed as fake agents offering rentals of bungalows, cars, or even selling cosmetic products.
The couple's activities were halted by the CID of Phoenix following a complaint filed by a 26-year-old police officer. On October 5th, she posted an advertisement on Facebook stating that she was looking for a bungalow in the Blue-Bay area: "We are going to celebrate a colleague's birthday."
After posting this ad, the police officer reports that a Facebook user initiated a conversation regarding her request and offered her a bungalow for rent at Rs 5,000. A few days later, on October 8th, she accepted the offer and made a payment of Rs 5,000 via the SBM Tag app.
It was while attempting to request the payment receipt that the officer began to suspect something was amiss: "They started telling me today, tomorrow, then I began to doubt." It was then that the police officer filed a complaint at the Phoenix police station.
She provided investigators with bank documents related to the Rs 5,000 transaction for the bungalow reservation. According to these documents, the amount was credited to Lovish Prayag's account.
On Thursday, November 20th, the CID team from Phoenix, led by officers Aubeeluck, Juwaheer, Matadeen, and Ramen, managed to trace the alleged scammer Lovish Prayag from Clairfonds, Phoenix, and his girlfriend Alisha Bullywon.
During their interrogation, the couple confessed to their involvement in the scam. The police suspect that Alisha Bullywon lured the officer to extract the Rs 5,000 from her.
On Friday, they were provisionally charged with "Electronic Fraud" in the Curepipe court. This investigation is overseen by Police Superintendent Shariff Auhammud.
Alisha Bullywon's pseudonyms: An Na and Tee Ana
In April 2023, a user had already reported Alisha on the STOP SCAM MU Facebook page. At that time, she was using the pseudonyms An Na and Tee Ana in a car rental scam case: "She sent me pictures of the car, saying it could be delivered to my home, she pressured me to transfer her the money immediately."
Another victim claims to have also fallen victim to a scam involving Alisha: "I finished my juice, she said she would send my parcel, when I called her, she didn’t answer. Her name on the MCB juice is Alisha Bullywon, on Facebook she goes by Sadiyah D."