Real estate / rental scam

Alright y'all, I am typing this with pure rage just got completely finessed out of ₹5,000 by a fake landlord on Magicbricks. Don't fall for his mind games. I was looking for a 1 BHK flat in Raghunathpur bhubaneswar . Magicbricks made me pay ₹800 just to unlock the owner’s number. I called him to secure the flat before anyone else. He told me, to Pay a token amount, up to you how much.Since he left the amount to me and asked for my ID and photo he sounded lowkey genuine. I sent ₹2,000. The second it cleared, he started demanding more cash: his first Gate Pass Lie- He demanded another ₹3,000 to remove the ad and make a society "gate pass". and here I had this weird gut feeling right before paying the ₹3,000, and honestly, I should’ve trusted it. I got suspicious and demanded his ID. He confidently sent an Aadhaar card from Uttar Pradesh (UP) and claimed he lives on the 7th floor of Royal Lagoon. He sounded so real I paid the ₹3,000. I waited all evening for confirmation. He finally called back and demanded ANOTHER ₹9,000 just to unlock a stupid PDF file. That's when my brain cells booted up. I gave him full slangs and blocked him. He’s a remote scammer in UP using stolen IDs and premium society names to bait people. I’ve attached the screenshots. His phone number is completely visible. If this clown ever messages you, block and report his account immediately so we can tank his operations. Never send money upfront! ✌️ (btw this is his no +91 9129849103 if anyone’s frustrated, feel free to spam-call him ) Aadhar: 9434 0099 0485 Name 1: Manasranjan Raut Name 2: Aditya Rajbhar Website: https://www.magicbricks.com/

Scammed of ₹17,020 while booking a PG through "MagicBricks". Need accommodation near DU South Campus too. I'm posting this for only one reasons: 1.To warn others about this scam. I'm a student from Himachal Pradesh and recently got CVS (College of Vocational Studies), Delhi University in the second CSAS round (currently on upgrade). Since I'm from a financially weak background, I was trying to book a PG online because travelling to Delhi multiple times just to visit properties wasn't possible for me. Delhi is over 500 km from my home, and as a girl, travelling alone repeatedly is difficult and expensive. I found a PG listing on MagicBricks. A person claiming to be the owner asked me to pay a ₹3,000 booking deposit, saying it would confirm my room. After I paid, he told me his manager would contact me for the remaining formalities. The "manager" then said I had to pay ₹7,010 to generate a "visitation card" and assured me that ₹7,000 would be refunded. After I paid ₹7,010, he suddenly claimed that I had made the payment incorrectly and that I should have paid ₹7,000 and ₹10 as separate transactions. He told me he would generate a new UPI PIN and asked me to pay again. I told him to first refund the ₹7,010, then I would make the payment again. Instead, he kept convincing me that everything would be refunded together, so I ended up paying another ₹7,000 and ₹10. After that, instead of refunding anything, he demanded ₹18,000 as a "penalty" before releasing my money. That's when I realized I had been scammed. I contacted the person claiming to be the owner. He told me that if I didn't pay, my "visitation card" and payment would remain on hold for 45 days. I replied that I didn't care about any visitation card anymore and just wanted my ₹17,020 back. After that, the manager stopped responding completely, and the owner ignored my calls and messages despite saying he would call me back. Looking back, I know there were red flags. Unfortunately, I wasn't in the right state of mind. My grandfather was admitted in serious condition that morning, and I was also unwell. They exploited my stress and urgency to find accommodation before college. I have already: Reported the fraud to the National Cyber Crime Portal. Contacted SBI and informed them about it they have temporarily block my UPI and ATM card Filed a police complaint/FIR. Saved all chat screenshots, WhatsApp call logs, and payment proofs. The screenshots I've attached show them threatening that my payment would remain "on hold for 45 days" unless I paid more, and how they stopped responding afterwards. Please don't fall for scams involving "verification fees," "visitation cards," "refundable processing charges," or demands to make another payment because the first one was supposedly "wrong." Legitimate property owners don't operate this way. Thank you for reading, and I hope my experience prevents someone else from losing their hard-earned money. Also I'll update if I'll get my money back ( used chatgpt to write it )