Mobile tower: Alert resident foils online fraud bid

Former Panjab University (PU) vice-chancellor (V-C) Kare Narain Pathak prevented fraudsters’ attempted to dupe him on pretext of installing a tower of a telecom

Former Panjab University (PU) vice-chancellor (V-C) Kare Narain Pathak prevented fraudsters’ attempted to dupe him on pretext of installing a tower of a telecom firm on his land.

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Pathak, a professor emeritus who had served as V-C from 2000 to 2006, alleged he received a message on his mobile phone on September 3, saying that he can earn at least ₹40 lakh in advance and a monthly rent of ₹30,000 by installing Reliance Jio 4G tower.

After inquiring about the scheme, Pathak got a message seeking his documents for installation of tower on his land in his native Baragoan village in Uttar Pradesh.

“I sent them a passport size picture and copies of PAN, Aadhaar and documents regarding ownership of the land through WhatsApp. Then I received a message, saying that the application was verified successfully and asking for ₹14,313 to Reliance Jio Infocom Limited’s Canara bank account,” Pathak told the police.

However, Pathak got the account details verified from the PU bank branch, and found that the account was in the name of Munna Kumar, a native of Bihar. Pathak also gave a complaint to the bank manager. The cyber crime officials have initiated an investigation in the matter after registering a case under Section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code against unidentified person.

In a separate case, Amrit Lal of Sector 26 was duped by one Mohammad Wasim on pretext of selling him an SUV. Police said Wasim took initial instalment of ₹3.9 lakh from Lal but didn’t give him the vehicle nor returned the money. A case was registered.