E-Paper
Chandigarh senior citizen couple duped of ₹2 lakh in fake AC service scam
The fraud began on May 11 when Harish Chander Madan received a phone call from a man identifying himself as Amit Kumar, who claimed to be an employee of UrbanClap
A senior citizen couple from Sector 23 C, Chandigarh, allegedly lost ₹2.2 lakh after cyber fraudsters posing as representatives of an air-conditioner servicing company deceived them into carrying out online banking transactions.
According to a complaint lodged with the cyber crime police station in Sector 17, the fraud began on May 11 when Harish Chander Madan received a phone call from a man identifying himself as Amit Kumar, who claimed to be an employee of UrbanClap (now Urban Company). The caller offered assistance with AC servicing and under the pretext of completing a service-related banking procedure, persuaded the couple to carry out a series of online transactions.
The complainants told police that between May 11 and 12, a total of ₹2,26,563 was withdrawn from four of their bank accounts. Harish Chander Madan lost ₹80,124 and ₹14,025 from his Punjab National Bank account, besides ₹80,000 from his Bank of India account. His wife, Madhu Madan, lost ₹29,014, ₹4,400 and ₹19,000 from her accounts.
After discovering the fraud, the couple reported the matter to the national cyber helpline on May 12. A preliminary investigation revealed that part of the money had been transferred to bank accounts allegedly belonging to individuals identified as Sachin, Sajit Ahmed and Akhtar Khan. Police said the UCO Bank account linked to Akhtar Khan has been frozen.
A case has been registered under Sections 318 (4) (cheating), 319(2) (cheating by personation), 61 (2) (criminal conspiracy) of the Bhartiya Nayaya Sanhita (BNS), and investigators are tracing the accused through bank account details, mobile numbers and digital transaction records.
Man loses ₹90,000 in fake credit card reward points scam
According to the complaint, Ashok Kumar received a phone call around 6.24 pm on May 16 from a woman claiming to be an official from the credit card department of Axis Bank. She informed him that reward points had accumulated on his credit card and could be redeemed immediately.
The caller later sent a link via WhatsApp and asked him to enter his personal and credit card details. Believing the request to be genuine, Kumar filled in his name, date of birth and card information. Shortly afterwards, he received a message confirming that ₹90,000 had been debited from his account in a transaction under the name ‘BigTreeEnter’.
Realising he had been defrauded, Kumar reported the incident to the national cyber helpline. Based on the complaint, the cyber crime police station in Sector 17 registered a case under Sections 318(4) (cheating), 319(2) (cheating by personation), 336(3) (making a false document), 338 (possessing a counterfeit seal with intent to commit forgery), 340(2) (using a forged document as genuine), and 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) of the Bhartiya Nayaya Sanhita (BNS) and launched a probe.
Police are examining the mobile number, WhatsApp account, fake website link and banking transactions used in the fraud while attempting to identify the accused through technical evidence.
