E-Paper
Chandigarh: Unidentified person booked for posing as PGIMER director on WhatsApp
Dr Amod Gupta, professor emeritus, Advanced Eye Centre, PGIMER, alerted the Chandigarh Police on May 16 after he received a fraudulent WhatsApp message from someone posing as PGIMER director Dr Vivek Lal
Police are on the lookout for a fraudster who has been sending out messages from a WhatsApp account using the picture of PGIMER director Dr Vivek Lal.
Dr Amod Gupta, professor emeritus, Advanced Eye Centre, PGIMER, alerted the police on May 16 after he received one such WhatsApp message saying, “Hello, BNS Walia, how are you.”
Dr Gupta said the sender was messaging from an account that had the picture of Dr Vivek Lal. When he cross-checked with Dr Lal, he realised the message was from an imposter.
Dr Gupta informed the police, who registered a case under Sections 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating) and 511 (attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or other imprisonment) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at the Sector 11 police station on Wednesday.
Mohali resident duped of ₹1 lakh
Using a similar modus operandi, a fraudster duped a 54-year-old resident of Sector 69, Mohali, of ₹1 lakh.
The victim, Jasdev Singh Sidhu, told the police that while he was in Chandigarh’s Sector 26 recently, he received a WhatsApp message from an account using the picture of one of his acquaintances.
Through the message, the sender asked for 10 Amazon e-vouchers of ₹ 10,000 each.
Assuming that his acquaintance was in need of money, Sidhu purchased the e-vouchers and shared them through the WhatsApp number. He realised only later that he fell prey to a fraud and approached the police, who lodged a case under Sections 419, 420 and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC at the Sector 26 police station.
