Another elderly man duped in digital arrest scam, 2nd this month

A 91-year-old resident of Sector 34-C has reportedly lost Rs 36 lakh in a digital arrest fraud.

The fraudsters, posing as officials of the Mumbai Crime Branch, duped Col Harmohinder Singh Puri (retd) of his money in November last year. An FIR has now been registered at the Cyber Crime Police Station, Sector 17.

The victim received a WhatsApp call. The caller claimed that a fake bank account had been opened in his name in Maharashtra and it was linked to a high-profile financial investigation involving Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal. The caller alleged that Colonel Puri’s Aadhaar card had been recovered during a raid and a non-bailable warrant issued against him.

The caller instructed him to remain on a video call overnight and coerced him into disclosing his financial details. Colonel Puri followed the caller’s instructions and transferred Rs 36 lakh to an ICICI Bank account. He also sent a screenshot of the transaction receipt to the caller.

The fraudsters later made the victim transfer more money — Rs 12.5 lakh from his Union Bank of India account and Rs 20 lakh from his Post Office savings. However, his son, Pushpinder Singh, who recently returned from Australia, suspected foul play and got the transactions stopped. After preliminary inquiry and review by senior officers, a case was registered on April 20.

It is the second digital arrest case involving ex-servicemen reported this month. Earlier, 82-year-old Col Dalip Singh Bajwa was duped of Rs 3.4 crore. The frudsters were posing as ED officials.

Employee loses Rs 1.3 cr in fraud

A Sector 32 resident has been duped of Rs 1.3 crore by a fraudster posing as a senior executive of his company.

The victim, Dinesh Kashyap, an employee of Froser Valley India Education LLP, alleged that he received a message on February 17 from an unfamiliar number. The sender, impersonating his superior, requested an urgent transfer of Rs 1.3 crore for a new project initiative. He transferred the amount from the firm’s HDFC Bank account to an account. When Kashyap realised that he had been conned, he tried to stop the transaction, but the money had already been debited.

Chandigarh