E-Paper
Panchkula: School principal duped of ₹12.52 lakh by online friend
Complainant Reema, who is the principal of a private school in Banur, told Panchkula police that in July she received a request from an Instagram ID named “Antonio Inlez” with the profile picture of a man wearing a pilot’s uniform
A 44-year-old woman from Sector 26 was duped of ₹12.52 lakh by an online fraudster, who befriended her on Instagram by posing as a pilot.
Complainant Reema, who is the principal of a private school in Banur, told the police that in July she received a request from an Instagram ID named “Antonio Inlez” with the profile picture of a man wearing a pilot’s uniform. After accepting the request, Reema asked him about the pilot training and he shared details of courses that need to be done for becoming a pilot.
They then exchanged their mobile numbers and continued correspondence over WhatsApp. After talking to Reema for around 10 days, he told her that he had sent her a parcel, despite her telling him not to do so.
A few days later, she received a call saying that a parcel addressed to her has been received at the Delhi airport and the woman on the phone told her that the parcel included foreign currency. Hence, she would have to pay money to get it released, following which she ended up paying ₹12.52 lakh.
A case under Sections 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 384 (extortion) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered on her complaint.
Online search for phone number leaves woman ₹82k poorer
Looking for the customer care number of a courier service, chief executive officer (CEO) of NIIRT, Phase 1, Industrial area, Panchkula, ended up losing ₹82,992 to cyber criminals.
According to complainant Dr Kalpana Sinha, 61, a resident of Dhakoli, on May 24 at 12 pm, she was browsing the internet for the customer care contact details of Blue Dart, a courier company, just when she landed on a number provided on the Google search engine.
As she called the number, the person, who answered the call, asked her to pay ₹5 to get herself registered and for which the person sent her a link on WhatsApp.
Soon after Sinha clicked on the link and uploaded her personal details, money in multiple transactions got debited from her bank account.
Realising that she was cheated, she got her account blocked, but by then ₹82,992 were already deducted. A case under Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 and 120-B of the IPC has been registered.
Sector 21 resident loses ₹90k to ATM swapping fraud
A resident of Sector 21 lost ₹90,000 in debit card swap fraud near his residence.
The complainant, Karam Singh Sharma, told the police that on Saturday, a family pooja was planned at a temple in Sector 2. He, along with his family, visited the Sector 21 market to purchase some items for the ceremony. He then went to an ATM at the market to withdraw cash for the priest’s fee, but could not withdraw the same. So he went to another ATM, but again could not withdraw the amount.
Later, two persons entered the ATM and offered to help him, but after a number of transactions, no cash could be withdrawn. The persons handed over the debit card back to him and later he received messages of money withdrawal through multiple transactions from his account. A case under Section 420 of the IPC was registered.
