Chandigarh: Three Chandigarh residents, including two women, were allegedly duped of over Rs 8 lakh in separate cyber fraud cases involving a fake work-from-home offer, a visa-related scam and an online banking fraud.The Cyber Crime police station has registered three separate cases against unidentified persons and launched an investigation. No arrests have been made so far.In the first case, Harleen Kaur, a resident of Sector 40, alleged that she received a work-from-home offer through WhatsApp and was later added to a Telegram group. She was promised high returns on investments after completing online tasks.According to her complaint, she initially received Rs 200 after completing a task, which convinced her to invest further. She eventually transferred Rs 3.62 lakh. When she tried to withdraw the promised returns, she was allegedly asked to deposit more money. Suspecting fraud, she approached the cyber police.In another case, Sunil Kumar of Manimajra told police that he and his brother, Rameshwar, received a Facebook message from an account purportedly belonging to Rameshwar’s former employer, Rajan Khokhar.The sender claimed he had moved to Canada and had transferred Rs 10.40 lakh to them, asking them to send Rs 45,000 to a travel agent for visa-related expenses. Believing the claim, Rameshwar transferred the amount. Later, another caller posing as a travel agent allegedly demanded an additional Rs 2 lakh, claiming the employer’s visa had expired.After the money was transferred, the promised Rs 10.40 lakh never reached their account. The brothers then realised they had been duped and lodged a complaint.In the third incident, Preetpal Kaur, a resident of Sector 48, alleged that she received a call from a person posing as a bank representative, who asked her to submit a life certificate through a link. During the process, she was asked to share an OTP received on her phone.Soon after, Rs 2.10 lakh was fraudulently withdrawn from her bank account.Police said separate cases have been registered in all three incidents and efforts are underway to identify and trace the accused.
