Chandigarh, July 4: Cyber criminals operating across Chandigarh have siphoned off over three lakh rupees from unsuspecting residents in two separate digital banking scams. The fraudulent activities, which targeted an elderly couple in Sector 23 C and a resident of Ram Darbar Phase II, have prompted extensive technical investigations by the regional cyber crime police station in Sector 17.
The primary theft involved senior citizens Harish Chander Madan and his wife Madhu Madan, who were systematically stripped of ₹2,26,563 across multiple bank accounts. The deception began when an individual impersonating a home services company representative contacted the couple under the guise of setting up routine maintenance.
“The caller offered assistance with AC servicing and under the pretext of completing a service-related banking procedure, persuaded the couple to carry out a series of online transactions,” the police complaint stated.
Following the fraudulent instructions, the couple witnessed a series of rapid withdrawals from four separate bank accounts over a 48-hour period, prompting them to immediately alert the national cyber helpline. Initial police tracking traced the stolen funds directly to three separate accounts, leading law enforcement to freeze a linked UCO Bank account.
In a parallel incident, Ram Darbar resident Ashok Kumar lost ₹90,000 after being lured by a fake credit card reward point offer. Kumar received a phone call from a woman claiming to represent a prominent banking institution, who instructed him to input sensitive personal data into an external link shared via an instant messaging application.
Officials declared that a transaction was processed almost immediately after the data was entered, draining the funds from Kumar’s account. Police have registered comprehensive criminal cases under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including charges of cheating by personation and criminal conspiracy, as investigators work to analyze the mobile numbers, digital transaction paths, and web links utilized by the scammers.
