How a hit & run in Jodhpur claimed to involve my car parked in Chennai

The person involved in the accident even gave the correct details of my Seltos, my mom's name and my name.

BHPian AnkitHJain7 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

On Feb 15, 2024 at 2:39 PM I received a phone call from a number that I did not recognize. The person identified himself as Mr. X (he gave his real name, but hiding it here) from Jodhpur, Rajasthan.

He asked if I was the owner of vehicle number TN-03-AC-6651, which is my White 2020 Kia Seltos. I was initially sceptical of this and feared it was a spam/marketing phone call. I did confirm that the vehicle is owned by my family to ascertain why he had been calling. (The vehicle is registered in my mother's name)

Mr. X then went on to inform me that my vehicle was involved in a road accident in the Boranada area of Jodhpur, Rajasthan at approximately 11 AM on the same day (Feb 15, 2024). He knew my car number, my mom's name (who was the registered owner) my name (my guess is from a true caller when he called me), and the fact that we were the second owners. All this I still thought was some elaborate scam, because all this info is easily accessible on Vahan.

When I further probed on the details of the vehicle that hit him, he stated that a white-coloured vehicle, that looked like a “Creta or Kia” had collided with him near an SBI office in Boranada and almost ran over him. The accident had left Mr. X injured, and he had to be taken to the hospital because of a fractured leg. I was shocked as my vehicle was at my residence in Chennai at the time.

The vehicle involved had damages that caused it to leave behind the number plate on the spot in pieces. This is how he was able to find my information and ascertain that this was the vehicle that had hit him. He even stated that if the number plate had not fallen, he would have not been able to figure out who did it.

All of this was very shocking to me as my car has never been to Rajasthan and it has not been outside of South India in my entire ownership period. The Seltos has been in Chennai the whole day, and I have CCTV footage from my home that will corroborate the location of the vehicle in addition to an Apple AirTag tracker that was also in the vehicle.

Mr. X requested I send him an image of my vehicle to confirm that I was being truthful about my statements. I initially felt uncomfortable sharing images of my vehicle with an unknown party. I told him I'll do it, and hung up the phone. I was in shock and didn't know what I should do. My wife who was beside me suggested that I not send anything and wait for a call back to see if it was a scam. I agreed, but couldn't get it out of my head. I started to do some digging and I noted that the number Mr. X called me from had an active WhatsApp with his picture as the profile photo, as well as a WhatsApp status that was last updated in 2018. The status was not the generic one you'd see from a spammer/robot, but a quote written in Hindi. This led me to believe he is most likely not a bot/scammer and possibly telling the truth. I dug a bit deeper and also found a Facebook profile with a slightly different spelling of his surname than what he pronounced (nothing major), and it also had another image on the profile that was identifiable as the same person in his WhatsApp profile photo. The first post on the FB account goes back to 2019, so not a brand-new account either.

Knowing these details, I then decided to call him back at 3:03 PM to enquire about how he had gotten my details and my phone number, because I was still very confused about the situation. He informed me that he has a relative who is an ST in the department and they had provided my contact details to him. He stated he was a government employee who worked in the electrical department and was on duty when the incident occurred. I think at this point he still thought I was the guy that hit him and was making up an elaborate story. He was a bit agitated about me not sending him the photos like I said I would. I then asked him why he needed the picture of my vehicle because there would be no way to prove what city the vehicle was in based on just the picture. He said that if I sent a picture and video, he would at least be able to verify the condition of my vehicle. He claimed that the vehicle involved in the collision with him had damage on the front end, and if my vehicle didn’t it would solidify my side of the story for him.

At this point, I decided to share the image of my vehicle with him, because he did sound genuine and I wanted to assist him with finding who had committed this crime and clear myself and my vehicle of any wrongdoing. Plus at this point, there wasn't any more info that he could get from a picture that he didn't already have. So I took an image of my vehicle inside my home, as well as a video showing him the date and time on another mobile phone and the front section of my car. I promptly sent Mr X the video and picture on WhatsApp.

I then called him back at 3:15 PM to inform him that I’d sent the images. He confirmed that he had received the images and he confirmed that my plate looked different from the plate he had recovered. I informed him that I had never changed the plate of my car and it had been that way since the day I purchased the vehicle. He also concurred that my plate looked like something you'd get from a showroom, and the kind of plate he recovered. We then had a discussion and I informed him that I had never taken the vehicle to Rajasthan. He asked if I had any relatives in the area, to which I told him I did not. He was very perplexed and was saying that it's very wrong what's happening. Someone is using your number and you don't even know. I told him how was I to know, and I do agree it's very wrong. At that point, I just said we could proceed and figure out what to do to find the actual suspect.

He informed me that he will be pursuing the matter legally by filing the FIR because there isn't anything else he can do. I assured him that I would help with the investigation by any means necessary. I even offered to bring my vehicle to a local police station or RTO office immediately to prove my vehicle was not the one that was involved in the collision. He stated that he would let the authorities handle the investigation and asked me to answer the phone and speak to the authorities if they called.

After this happened I called a lawyer friend (his area of expertise is in a different part of the law, but didn't know who else to reach out to) who said I could either visit a police station or file an online complaint. I raised concerns about who exactly to meet at a police station, and whether or not they'd even pay any heed to a case that isn't a serious matter. To which my friend then agreed and said the best option is to file an online complaint and start from there. So I've filed the online complaint and now I'm just stuck waiting to see what happens next.

I thought I'd ask if anyone else on here has been in a similar situation. I am feeling super tense because I of course don't want to be held liable for criminal activity that others have committed, nor do I want to spend my time dealing with endless legal matters that aren't of my own doing. Does anyone have any ideas on what I could do to safeguard myself and my mom (who is the registered owner)?

P.S: In addition to this incident, On Jan 3, 2024, I had gotten two fraudulent charges on my FasTag at Chennasamaduram Toll Plaza at 10:49 and 11:34 AM. This is a good 100kms away from my house, and my vehicle on that day as well had been parked at my home. I immediately raised a complaint by calling the FastTag issuing bank who informed me the only option was to send an email with the transaction details, RC Copy, and photos of the car. So I sent an email with all the details they asked of my vehicle immediately. At that time I had assumed it might have just been a mistake or computer error on the end of the FastTag, since I haven't received any more fraudulent charges on my FastTag. However, I’m not sure anymore. The charges have yet to be reversed and I haven't heard back from them either, 5 weeks later.

So it's further solidifying the thought that there might be another car running my number plate. Feeling very frustrated and stressed out.

Here's what BHPian rehaan2 had to say on the matter:

You've cooperated with him, so now, after consulting with your lawyer friend ask Mr X to send you:

• Multiple clear pictures of the number plate he has recovered (this might be your easiest way out of this - in case he's made some assumption about missing / incomplete digits etc).
• A picture or two of his injuries. Doesn't hurt to have.
• Exact date, time & location of accident.

As insurance:

• Save your building CCTV footage showing your car parked that day. Ideally, get enough other footage before/after of your neighbours coming/leaving etc, just so it can't be said the date/timestamp on the footage is altered.
• Find the most recent image of your car (showing the style of plates) posted on social media, or Team-BHP etc. Keep a screenshot & link to this accessible.
• See if you can take a video of your car, showing the lack of damage & still the same plates - with some sort of timestamp (the front page of TOI proves it's a video that's at least as new as today, and by sending it on Whatsapp & email to someone you could technically close the time-window to show it wasn't taken later than today).
• I read on Team-BHP that toll operators can charge the fastag of a car based on the number plate. (for eg., if "the fastag is not scanning properly"). So note that it's NOT a case of your actual fastag being used/present at the time. It could even be a totally different make/model car.
• I wouldn't actively correlate 2 incidents, though it is good that you have the written email as proof.
• Lastly, once you've covered your bases as best as you can - let it go. There's a good chance you will never hear of this again. (Not to minimize the issue, but it sounds like the injury was thankfully only a broken leg, and not something much worse). Chances are the police will not follow it up, especially across state borders. They have bigger fish to fry.

Here's what BHPian Hayek had to say on the matter:

Forging number plates and Fastags does seem to be a big issue. As discussed at length in another thread, there are plenty of examples of fake debits from Fastags. For example, I have had numerous debits on my X3’s Fastag from southern Tamil Nadu (which my car has never visited) over a 6 month period (when the car was in Bombay) before I changed the tag. It took being able to show a debit on roads in Bombay like the sea link on the same day to convince HDFC Bank about where my car was.

Not had a fake debit since then - but it did strike me as odd that the toll operators don’t bother to verify if the number plate matches the number on the tag (unless someone had forged my plate which is even scarier). Do think we need a rapid shift to the High-Security Plates - but in states like MH, there isn’t even a process which lets you fit an HSRP on an old car (as far as I know).

With traffic fines etc based on number plate recognition, this is very dangerous indeed.

Here's what BHPian Engine_Roars had to say on the matter:

It is possible that they misread one of the digits from the broken number plate and ended up calling you instead of the actual owner.

It is also possible that it indeed was a fake number plate. I am not sure if you can do much about it at this point except maybe build your defences and keep the proofs ready that could prove that your vehicle never crossed the state border on or around that day.

All the best, hope you come out of this super quick.

Here's what BHPian sagarpadaki had to say on the matter:

Can you ask the other person to share the pieces of the broken number plate with which he deduced your car number? That way you can be sure that the number matches that of your car.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.