Chandigarh: Cyber crime police have registered two fraud cases after a city couple was duped of Rs 94.5 lakh in a fake stock market investment scheme and a Maloya resident lost Rs 4.8 lakh through unauthorised UPI transactions.In the first case, Sector 17 cyber crime police booked unknown persons following a complaint by city resident Vivek Gupta. Gupta alleged that a woman named Sonal, claiming to represent Julius Baer Wealth Management, lured him and his wife, Varsha Gupta, with promises of high stock market returns.Between July 6 and July 21, 2026, the couple transferred Rs 94.5 lakh—Rs 74 lakh from Vivek’s account and Rs 20.5 lakh from Varsha’s—into various third-party bank accounts rather than accounts in their own names or directly under the investment firm. After realising the fraud, Gupta reported the matter on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal on Aug 12, 2026, and submitted transaction details to the police, who registered an FIR following preliminary verification.Maloya man loses ₹4.8L in UPI fraudIn the second incident, Mohammad Kalam of Maloya Colony reported losing Rs 4.8 lakh from his Punjab National Bank (PNB) savings account through six unauthorised UPI debits between Aug 3 and Aug 10, 2026.The fraudulent transfers included transactions of Rs 80,000 and Rs 16,000 on Aug 3, followed by four debits of Rs 98,000 each on Aug 7, 8, 9, and 10. Kalam stated that he neither authorised the payments nor shared any OTPs, adding that bank alert messages were delayed by five to six days.Based on his complaint, the Sector 17 cyber police station registered a separate FIR against unidentified suspect(s) and initiated an investigation.
