On Tuesday, police registered a case against an unidentified person who had allegedly duped a Chandigarh resident of ₹1.33 lakh on the pretext of investing in cryptocurrency.
Rajat Sharma, 24, of Sector 30-B, an accountant, had been offered a part-time job on April 1 via a WhatsApp message. After clicking the link, a Telegram ID with the name “Cerin” opened.
The victim was then assigned a few tasks to earn some money, including following a few Instagram IDs. After completing these tasks, Sharma received a small amount of profit in his account. He was later introduced to crypto trading and investments. The fraudsters added him to a Telegram group and shared a cryptocurrency link with him.
Sharma then invested ₹2,000 and earned a profit of ₹682. He further invested ₹9,000 and then ₹28,000, and received ₹46,121, including profit. After he refused to invest ₹98,000, the fraudsters threatened to take legal action against him, leading him to deposit a total of ₹1.33 lakh in their accounts.
The fraudster then asked Sharma to deposit ₹1.68 lakh, but he refused, understanding he was being duped. He then filed a complaint with the Sector 17 cyber cell police station. A case was registered under Sections 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
In another case of cyber fraud, a city resident was cheated of ₹23,990 after he fell for a fake caller’s trap. Manohar Thapa, 27, of Sector 56, received a call from a person named Ankit Mishra on May 18. He asked Thapa to click on a link sent on his WhatsApp to waive ₹750 annual charges of his RBL credit card.
Thapa complied with the instructions, but a total of ₹23,990 were deducted from his bank account. A case was registered against Mishra under Sections 419, 420 and 120-B of the IPC.
