Over the past two days, Panchkula was witnessed two cyber frauds worth over Rs. 80 lakhs via fake impersonation. All of this came to light when FIRs under various sections was registered at the Cyber Crime Branch, here.
According to information, the police said that the first complainant, identified as, Major General Prabodh Chandra Puri (retired), a resident of Sector 20, alleged of receiving a suspicious call on October 15, claiming that his mobile phone was being excessively used and would be disconnected within two hours. He was instructed to press “2” to speak to customer service. After pressing “2,” he was informed that a phone number had been issued in his name from M5 Connaught Place, New Delhi, and was being used for threats and money laundering.
The scam unfolded through multiple calls, where individuals posing as officials from the police and cybercrime departments (using names such as Sub-Inspector Mishra and SI Roshan) coerced Maj. Gen. Puri into believing that his phone number was involved in a major money laundering operation. Over the course of the scam, the fraudsters communicated through voice and video calls, showing fake identification and a video feed that mimicked a police station, complete with images of Mahatma Gandhi and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose to create an illusion of authenticity.
They further manipulated him into revealing personal and financial information, including details about his wife,Usha Puri. The fraudsters convinced Maj. Gen. Puri to withdraw funds from his wife’s fixed deposit accounts (FDRs), which amounted to Rs. 82.27 lakhs into a prescribed bank account.
According to information, the police said that the first complainant, identified as, Major General Prabodh Chandra Puri (retired), a resident of Sector 20, alleged of receiving a suspicious call on October 15, claiming that his mobile phone was being excessively used and would be disconnected within two hours.
The fraudsters assured him that the amount would be refunded within six hours, which never happened. The scam continued until 7PM on 16th October, and no further communication was received after the morning of 17th October, prompting the victim to seek police assistance.
The second complainant, Renu Dutta, a retired librarian and resident of Sector 21, alleged that she had visited the IDBI Bank branch, Sector-11, to close her DEMAT account. On two separate occasions, she interacted with Purti Dhiman, a bank employee, who assured her that she would close the account. On October 11, she initiated the closure online and instructed Renu to share the OTP that would be sent to her phone. However, she did not receive any OTP.
On October 16, Dutta called the bank employee multiple times. She finally answered at 11:00 AM and asked the victim to call back after 12:00 PM. Despite making several calls, she did not answer. At 4:56 PM, Dutta received a WhatsApp message, where the sender identified himself as Abhishek Sharma, claiming to be the manager of the IDBI Bank branch.
Abhishek Sharma guided Renu through the steps to close the DEMAT account and sent her a link via WhatsApp.
Following his instructions, the victim unknowingly allowed him access to her bank account. As a result, Rs. 95,006 and Rs. 4,900 were transferred via Google Pay, and another Rs. 49,990 was debited through her debit card, totaling a loss of Rs. 1,49,896.
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