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Chandigarh: Now, fraudster attempts gift voucher scam by using GMCH director’s image
In the past two days, the fraudster has sent messages to 32 hospital staffers, including doctors, the GMCH director told the police
WhatsApp gift voucher scam:
In a fresh case of WhatsApp gift voucher scam, a fraudster posed as the director-principal of Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, in an attempt to swindle 32 hospital staffers.
Demanding immediate investigation into the matter, hospital director Dr Jasbinder Kaur told the police that someone had been seeking Amazon gift vouchers by contacting hospital staffers through WhatsApp number “8480451643” while using her image as the display picture.
“In the past two days, the fraudster has sent messages to 32 hospital staffers, including doctors. In one such message, the fraudster asked for 10 Amazon e-vouchers of ₹10,000 each, while citing an emergency. However, the imposter could not succeed as we have already alerted all faculty and staff members not to respond to such messages,” Dr Kaur said.
This is not the first incident where Dr Kaur’s images were used to seek money or gift vouchers from hospital staff. She had reported a similar attempt previously as well, but police have not lodged any FIR in the matter so far.
Besides Dr Kaur’s, in the month of May, the cyber crime investigation cell (CCIC) of Chandigarh Police received five more similar complaints. FIRs were registered in three cases, while the other three are under investigation.
Prominent among these cases was the use of pictures of PGIMER director Dr Vivek Lal, a Punjab and Haryana high court judge, principal secretary to the Punjab governor and the head of a Panjab University department. According to police, in all cases, the fraudsters tried to secure monetary favours through gift vouchers and even succeeded to dupe a superintendent of police of ₹1 lakh by using the image of the principal secretary to the Punjab governor.
