‘Son caught with gangsters’: Chandigarh architect loses ₹70,000 to fraudsters

A fraudster, posing as a Punjab Police cop, duped a city-based architect of ₹70,000 by alarming him with a fake alert that his son had been detained with some gangsters.

The victim, Arvinder Singh Atwal, 52, of Sector 8, said on March 28, he received a WhatsApp call from a number having the Punjab Police logo as the display picture.

The caller, claiming to be a constable with the Punjab Police, shared that his son had been nabbed with some gangsters, and a huge cache of arms had been recovered from their car. The constable demanded ₹20,000 for his release and asked for an immediate bank transfer, as all gangsters will be presented before the media soon.

The complainant said worried about his son’s safety, he transferred ₹20,000 to the caller’s bank account through an app. Thereafter, the caller demanded ₹20,000 more in another account, stating that they will drop his son back at his college. After he paid the amount, the constable claimed that a CID team had also reached there and he would have to pay ₹30,000 more to tackle them.

While the complainant was transferring the money, his secretary informed his wife. She immediately contacted their son, who is pursuing law from a college in Sonepat, Haryana, and found that he was at the college.

Atwal said his wife alerted him, following which he immediately disconnected the call and lodged a complaint with the cyber crime branch in Sector 17.

A case under Sections 384 (extortion), 419 (cheating by personation) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code was registered at the Cyber Crime police station on his complaint.

Doctor duped of ₹50,800

Cyber criminals stole a PGIMER doctor’s ₹50,800 that she had paid for investment in an online trading platform.

The complainant, who works for PGIMER’s plastic surgery department, said the fraudsters offered to double her money, following which she paid ₹50,800 in instalments. But they eventually blocked her on Instagram, where she had come in touch with them.

A case was registered by the cyber cell police.