Panchkula man loses ₹54 lakh to trading scam

A fraudulent app displayed a balance of about ₹4 crore and falsely claimed that the victim had been allotted shares worth ₹5 crore

A retired excise and taxation department officer from Panchkula’s Sector 4 was defrauded of ₹54.5 lakh by cyber fraudsters who lured him with promises of huge profits from stock market investments.

In another case, a mechanic from Manimajra became the victim of cyber fraud after being duped of ₹17,300 while attempting to buy a car spare part through a WhatsApp group. (iStock)

The scam began when the victim received a message, followed by a woman identifying herself as Anjali Mehta on WhatsApp. She convinced him to download a fake investment app and join a group where a man named Ravi Sharma directed him to transfer funds to various accounts. Initially, the scammers showed a small profit and allowed a withdrawal to gain his trust.

The victim was then persuaded to invest nearly ₹50 lakh. The app displayed a balance of about ₹4 crore and falsely claimed he had been allotted shares worth ₹5 crore. The fraudsters then demanded an additional ₹49 lakh. When the victim refused, they started threatening him before shutting down the app.

Realising he had been scammed, he filed a complaint with the cyber police, who have registered a case and launched an investigation to trace the culprits and recover the stolen funds.

Mechanic duped of ₹17k in online fraud

Chandigarh A mechanic from Manimajra became the victim of cyber fraud after being duped of ₹17,300 while attempting to buy a car spare part through a WhatsApp group.

The complainant, Anil Kumar, reported that on August 16, he had posted a message in the WhatsApp group “Saini Vihar Meter Works All Digital Meter Available”, about the availability of an old meter for a Ford EcoSport car.

Following this, he received a WhatsApp message, where the sender claimed to have the required part and quoted a price of ₹17,300. The fraudster also sent him a payment QR code. On August 25, Kumar transferred the money. However, after receiving the payment, the accused neither delivered the part nor refunded the money, and later stopped answering calls.

A case was registered at the Cyber Crime Police Station, Sector 17.