An individual has been arrested for committing multiple financial frauds to the tune of hundreds of thousands of rupees by presenting forged payment receipts, and falsely claiming to have made payments for goods ordered via mobile phone.

The arrest was made following a complaint received by the Social Media Crimes Investigation Unit of the Computer Crime Investigation Division (CCID) under the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

According to the complaint, the suspect—posing as the brother of a prominent politician— had purchased a pet dog worth Rs. 85,000 and failed to make the promised payment to the owner.

The complainant stated that the suspect had sent a receipt to his mobile phone indicating that the amount had been credited to his bank account. Believing the payment to be genuine, the complainant arranged for the dog to be sent from Ratnapura to the suspect’s address by three-wheeler, at his own expense.

However, it was later discovered that the payment receipt in question was forged.

Following investigations, the suspect was arrested in Colombo.

Further inquiries revealed that the same suspect had obtained meat products worth Rs. 31,187 from a meat shop in Nawala using a similar forged receipt. 

Additionally, he had fraudulently acquired a television set valued at Rs. 200,000 in the same manner.

The suspect is also reported to have used this same method to obtain a large quantity of food items, including cakes valued at nearly Rs. 1 million over a long period of time.

At the time of arrest, police found a significant quantity of cakes and other food items stored in the suspect’s refrigerator which are suspected to have been obtained using forged payment receipts.

The suspect was produced before the Aluthkade Magistrate’s Court and has been remanded until July 8.