Cyber fraudsters duped three Panchkula residents of nearly ₹3.2 lakh in three separate incidents involving a fake Instagram handwriting job, an army procurement scam and a fake NRI marriage proposal. The cyber crime police station has registered separate FIRs and launched investigations into all three cases.
In the first case, a 20-year-old BA second-year student from Raipur Rani, was allegedly cheated of ₹1.3 lakh after responding to an Instagram advertisement offering a handwriting and book publication job. The fraudsters initially collected ₹599 as registration charges and ₹2,000 as delivery fees before demanding additional payments of ₹10,000 and ₹17,000 on the pretext of processing her earnings. They later persuaded her to share a one-time password (OTP), following which unauthorised transactions were made from her uncle’s bank account. Even after promising refunds through fake payment screenshots, the accused demanded another ₹50,000 before the victim realised she had been duped.
In another case, Dharamender Yadav, a building material supplier from Pinjore, lost ₹1 lakh after fraudsters posing as army officials placed a fake bricks order for an army camp in Kalka. After asking him to dispatch the consignment, the accused claimed that ₹1.3 lakh had been mistakenly transferred to his account and pressured him to return the excess amount. Believing the claim, the complainant transferred ₹1 lakh, only to later discover that no genuine payment had been credited and the bank transaction messages were fabricated.
In the third incident, a 40-year-old woman from Haripur village in Sector 4 was allegedly cheated of ₹1.2 lakh in a fake matrimonial scam. The woman, who provides home beauty parlour services, came in contact with a man identifying himself as Vipin Gupta through a Facebook matrimonial advertisement. Claiming to be based in the United States, the accused developed a relationship with her and later said he had sent a parcel containing jewellery, clothes and US dollars. She was then asked to deposit money towards customs clearance and other charges through multiple UPI transactions. When the fraudsters demanded another ₹1.6 lakh for releasing the parcel, she realised she had been cheated and approached the National Cyber Crime Portal.
{{/usCountry}}In the third incident, a 40-year-old woman from Haripur village in Sector 4 was allegedly cheated of ₹1.2 lakh in a fake matrimonial scam. The woman, who provides home beauty parlour services, came in contact with a man identifying himself as Vipin Gupta through a Facebook matrimonial advertisement. Claiming to be based in the United States, the accused developed a relationship with her and later said he had sent a parcel containing jewellery, clothes and US dollars. She was then asked to deposit money towards customs clearance and other charges through multiple UPI transactions. When the fraudsters demanded another ₹1.6 lakh for releasing the parcel, she realised she had been cheated and approached the National Cyber Crime Portal.
{{/usCountry}}Police have registered separate FIRs under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and are investigating all three cases to identify the accused and recover the defrauded amounts.