Isha Sharma, whose ATM card was exchanged.
CHANDIGARH NEWSLINE spoke to two people duped by online fraudsters and one who was nearly duped.
Fraud Through OLX
Nineteen-year-old Lalit Kumar, a resident of Sector 49, was duped by an unknown person on the online portal OLX, where the accused duped him of Rs 15,000 by impersonating as an Army official in December 2017.
Kumar was looking for a used mobile phone on OLX, where he came across accused Shashikant, who claimed that he was posted as constable in CISF in Chandigarh at the airport area. Kumar has now given a formal complaint to the Cyber Cell, which has initiated an investigation.
“I had to buy a iPhone 6s in gold colour and my friend suggested I should look for it on OLX, as there could be a variety of it with genuine sellers. While searching the iPhone on the site, I came across a phone, which was exactly the same which I wanted and the person was selling it for Rs 15,000 while the price of the brand-new one is Rs 35,000,” says Kumar. “He claimed to be an Army official from CISF and was selling it for Rs 15,000. I reached an agreement with the accused for buying the phone, for which he asked me to deposit Rs 15,000 in a bank account of Axis bank, which belonged to some other person called Mohammad Shaukeen.”
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The accused told Kumar, after depositing the amount in the bank account, he could come to take the mobile phone from him at Behlana, airport area. The accused then showed his credentials and gave his account number to the victim.
“As I received the account number, I deposited the money. When I asked him to give me the phone, he stated that he needs Rs 3,000 more, and only then can he give the phone,” Kumar says.
But later when Kumar tried to talk to him, he stopped replying on WhatsApp and also stopped picking phone calls.
Kumar, in his complaint to the Cyber Cell, said the phone number of accused showed him to be from Rajasthan. The police initiated investigation after receiving Kumar’s complaint. A police official claims that they have received around half a dozen similar complaints against the same accused person who is from Rajasthan and dupes people on OLX.
JIO KBC lottery spam complaint
In a complaint received from Ravish Vishwakarma, a resident of Sector 52, Chandigarh, the Cyber Cell is probing spam of JIO KBC lottery. The complainant, a fitness trainer, has stated in his complaint that he received a WhatsApp audio message on his mobile number in which an unknown person claimed that he is calling from JIO KBC maha lottery.
“I did know from where they got my JIO number. An unknown person initially sent me an audio message and stated that you have won Rs 25 lakh in a draw of JIO KBC,” Ravish says.
“Since I though it could be fake, I did not get involved much in this. But to get the details, I messaged him and then he called back on WhatsApp and explained the offer. He asked me to call the person mentioned in the audio clip.”
As per the complaint, the accused person claims to be from Delhi but Ravish later discovered the man was calling from Oman.
“Although I have not been duped, I have given a complaint at the Cyber Cell,” Ravish says.
ATM card exchanged by trick
Isha Sharma, a resident of Sector 22, Chandigarh, was duped by a Himachal Pradresh native, Nikhil Thakur, who had been recently convicted by the district court, Chandigarh, under Section 420 (cheating) of IPC.
It was in 2015, when brother of Isha Sharma went to PNB ATM in Sector 22, Chandigarh, to withdraw money. While he was in the queue, accused Nikhil Thakur stood behind him.
“I gave my ATM card to my brother to withdraw money. He went to PNB ATM in Sector 22, as we had the account of PNB. But while he was withdrawing the money, the machine somehow got stuck. Thakur, who was standing behind, took the ATM card from my brother to help him but exchanged the ATM card with a fake one. The money was not withdrawn, so my brother returned home. But then I received an SMS on phone stating that Rs 25,000 was withdrawn from my account,” Isha Sharma says.
The accused was arrested by Chandigarh Police in 2016 on complaint of another person, who was also duped in a similar way by Nikhil Thakur. The trial was conducted in the district court and the accused was sentenced to 18-month imprisonment by the court.