E-Paper
Cyber fraudsters pose as UK cops, dupe Ludhiana man of ₹10 lakh
According to his complaint, Hardeep received a WhatsApp call from an unknown number on August 4, the caller introduced himself as a UK police officer and claimed that Hardeep’s son, Kulveer Singh, had been arrested after allegedly getting into a fight with a foreign national
A Raikot man was allegedly duped of ₹10 lakh by cyber fraudsters who posed as UK police officials and falsely claimed that his son, living in England, had been arrested after a fight with a foreign national. The fraudsters later demanded ₹10 lakh to secure the son’s bail, prompting the victim to transfer the money before he realised that the entire story was fabricated.
The victim, Hardeep Singh of Kalsian village in Raikot, approached the cyber crime police station, Ludhiana Rural, following the fraud. Police have registered a case against unidentified persons.
According to his complaint, Hardeep received a WhatsApp call from an unknown number on August 4. The caller introduced himself as a UK police officer and claimed that Hardeep’s son, Kulveer Singh, had been arrested after allegedly getting into a fight with a foreign national. The caller further claimed that the foreign national had suffered serious injuries and that Kulveer had been lodged in jail. The fraudsters then allegedly told Hardeep to speak to a lawyer to secure his son’s release. Another caller contacted him shortly afterwards and demanded ₹10 lakh for arranging bail. Fearing that his son was in serious trouble, Hardeep arranged the money and transferred ₹5 lakh each to two bank accounts through RTGS.
He realised he had been defrauded only after speaking to his son, who told him that he had neither been involved in any scuffle nor arrested. Hardeep subsequently approached the police and reported that the callers had fabricated the arrest story to extract money from him.
Inspector Kirandeep Kaur, who is investigating the case, said, “An FIR has been registered under Sections 318(4) and 319(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Section 66-D of the Information Technology Act. Police teams are working to identify and trace the accused and recover the amount.” The investigators are also examining the beneficiary bank accounts and other digital evidence linked to the transactions, police said.
