Panchkula: Cyber fraudsters struck in separate incidents across Panchkula, duping a retired Army Colonel, a trader and another resident of more than Rs 22 lakh through credit card fraud, a fake e-challan link and an online trading scam.In one case, an 86-year-old retired Army Colonel from Sector 25 alleged that Rs 1.7 lakh was fraudulently withdrawn through transactions on his credit card. According to the FIR, he received an alert on Aug 4 about an unauthorised transaction of Rs 90,000 and immediately contacted the bank’s helpline. He was informed that the card would be blocked and a replacement issued.However, on Aug 16, he received alerts about two more unauthorised transactions of Rs 51,475 and Rs 30,885. The bank later informed him that transactions worth Rs 1.7 lakh had been carried out using his credit card. The complainant told the police he had not authorised any of the transactions and suspected the involvement of persons with access to his card details.In another case, Guneet Gaur (53) of Sector 20 was allegedly cheated of Rs 1.2 lakh after receiving a fake e-challan message on his phone. The message claimed that a Rs 1,000 challan had been issued for jumping a red light and contained a payment link. Gaur clicked on the link but closed the application after finding it suspicious.A few hours later, he began receiving OTPs related to Aadhaar, DigiLocker, PhonePe and his RBL credit card, besides a call-forwarding request on his Airtel number. Soon, unauthorised transactions were initiated through his credit card. Although multiple transactions were attempted, Rs 1,28,852 was successfully debited and transferred to a merchant identified as Bullock Ecom Services.In a third case, a trader was allegedly cheated of Rs 20 lakh after fraudsters lured him with promises of high returns through an online trading platform. Police said the victim was persuaded to download an application used to carry out the fake investment scheme.Police have registered cases and initiated investigations into all three incidents.
