3 Chandigarh residents lose Rs 55 lakh in fraud online investment cases

Chandigarh: The cyber cell of UT police registered three separate cases of online cheating. Unknown online cheaters duped three city residents of around Rs 55 lakh on the pretext of online investments. The cyber police are checking accounts to get clues about the accused. No arrest has been made so far.
Akash Gupta, a resident of Sector 29, said the fraud commenced when representatives from the purported finance department of Prestige Group enticed him with promises of high returns on investments. Subsequently, he transferred a total of Rs 46.47 lakh to various accounts provided by the cheaters. Gupta said a person who introduced himself as Karan Kumar, claiming to be a financial advisor from Prestige Group, recently approached him demanding Rs 22 lakh to release his invested amount. The company neither returned his money nor ceased demanding additional payments under different pretences, such as taxes and security fee. Later, the complainant filed a complaint at the cyber police station and provided all transactions he made in the various accounts. After verifying the facts, the cyber police registered a case against unknown persons and started a probe.
In a separate online cheating case, Raman Soni, a resident of Burail village, Sector 45, Chandigarh, alleged that online cheaters duped him of Rs 6.12 lakh on the pretext of giving high returns for online investment in Jan 2025. However, the accused neither provided any profit nor returned his invested money.
Another person, Devakar Sharma, a resident of Sector 17, Chandigarh, was cheated of Rs 1.10 lakh online by an unknown person in the name of Soniq Designs on Instagram in March this year. Based on the statements of Raman Soni and Devakar Sharma, the cyber police registered two separate FIRs against unknown persons and have been investigating the matter.