3 Chandigarh residents lose Rs 1.5L to online fraud

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 3

Three city residents have been duped of Rs 1.50 lakh in online fraud.

A woman resident of Sector 37 was duped of Rs 1.10 lakh by a fraudster who befriended her on Instagram. The complainant claimed the suspect introduced himself as Leonardo Antonia and they exchanged messages on the social networking platform.

A few days later, the suspect claimed he had sent her a gift, but she had to get it released from customs at Mumbai airport by paying some amount. The suspect tricked her into transferring money to different bank accounts.

The suspect further tried to trick her claiming the package contained £45,000 and that she needed to pay more money to get the currency converted. The complainant realised she had been duped and approached the police.

Also, Raipur Khurd resident Ravinder Kumar lost Rs 34,090 to electricity bill fraud. The complainant claimed he had received a message that the power connection of his house would be disconnected as bill was pending.

The complainant dialled the mobile number mentioned in the message and the suspect made him download ‘AnyDesk’ app before siphoning off money from his account.

Further, Sahil Ali of Dhanas alleged a fraudster posing as a CRPF officer duped him of Rs 5,200. The complaint looking for a car on OLX came across Ashok Gupta, who posed as a seller. The suspect claimed he was earlier posted in Chandigarh and had been transferred to Jaipur. The suspect claimed he would get the car shipped to Chandigarh for which the complainant would have to pay Rs 5,200. The complainant transferred the money and later realised he had been duped.

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