E-Paper
Panchkula doctor duped of ₹1.80 lakh by fake army officer
The victim, Dr Vinay Verma, 64, a resident of Sector 10, Panchkula, received a WhatsApp call on his mobile phone, with the caller introducing himself as an army officer
Posing as an army officer, an online fraudster duped a Panchkula-based doctor of ₹1.80 lakh after contacting him for “medical examination of 80 new army recruits”.
The victim, Dr Vinay Verma, 64, a resident of Sector 10, Panchkula, told police that he worked at a private hospital in Sector 22, Panchkula.
On December 22, 2023, he received a WhatsApp call on his mobile phone around 5.30 pm, with the caller introducing himself as an army officer.
The caller shared that as part of recruitment process, new cadets in the army needed to undergo medical examination. He said they will be sending 80 recruits to the hospital for this and pay ₹500 per person.
Stating that he will pay the fee in advance, the caller asked him to switch to a video call. He then sent him a weblink and asked him to click on it to receive the payment.
After sometime, he got a text message that ₹1.80 lakh had been withdrawn from his bank account.
Realising he had been duped, he contacted the police. Following investigation, police registered a case under Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code at the Cyber crime police station in Sector 12.
