UT residents lose 17cr to cyber frauds in 4 months

Chandigarh: City residents lost a whopping Rs 17.45 crore to cyber fraudsters in online scams between Jan 1 and April 24. Forty-two cyber criminals have been arrested in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi-NCR, UP, among other states, so far by the cyber cell of Chandigarh Police. A total of 45 FIRs were registered by it till April 24. Cyber sleuths have frozen and held Rs 4.60 crore stolen money in different accounts.
Police said investment frauds and digital arrest scams accounted for a significant share of financial losses.
To prevent this, police said law enforcement officials have been diligently pursuing and apprehending suspects. In addition, the Chandigarh Police has undertaken initiatives to educate the public about internet-based deceptions and digital security measures. Senior citizens are the most vulnerable to such frauds, with scammers often targeting retired people, especially army officers, police said. In the eight cases of digital arrest scams reported in the UT this year with over Rs 6 crore scammed from victims, police said most were retired army officers. In the first four months alone, the number of digital arrest scams have equalled last year's total.
Recently, the cyber fraudsters trapped a retired army officer, Colonel Dalip Singh Bajwa, 82, and his wife, Ranvinder Kaur Bajwa, 74, scamming them of Rs 3.41 crore. Posing as ED officials, the fraudsters scared them by claiming their involvement in a false money laundering case. Colonel Dalip Singh reported receiving a WhatsApp call from an unknown number on March 18. The caller falsely accused him of being involved in a money laundering case linked to an account in Canara Bank's Mumbai branch. The cyber police arrested nine people for their involvement in this scam.
In a similar case, a retd colonel, Harmohinder Singh Puri of Sector 34, was digitally trapped. He was warned of imminent arrest, leading him to transfer Rs 36 lakh from his account to an ICICI Bank account via RTGS, to make him prove his innocence.