Panchkula Cyber Fraud: How Two Scammers Racked Up Rs 9 Crore In Just 10 Days

The Cyber Police Station in Panchkula of Haryana arrested two persons connected with an enormous cyber fraud case amounting to Rs 9.68 crore. DCP Himadri Kaushik said that following complaints of illegal money transfers made outside the country, the arrests were made. Investigations so far have revealed the involvement of a foreign national who is currently being investigated. The accused, Jatin Jindal and Mushtaq from Patiala, in Punjab, were arrested in an attempt to break a network that duped victims with WhatsApp groups of opening highly invested returns. IT-savvy Jindal ran the operations, while Mushtaq had responsibility over banking transactions. Additional accused persons are yet to be arrested, believe the police.”.

They would allure victims on WhatsApp groups on high investment returns. The gang then duped the victims into transferring Rs 9 crore 68 lakh, following which it was transferred out of the country,” DCP Kaushik said. He further said that at present, recovery of the defrauded amount and mechanisms adopted for international transfers are being investigated. So far, Rs 1 crore has been seized, but the authority is working to recover the remaining amount. Several mobile phones and bank accounts of the accused have been found, and efforts are still on to extract more information from these devices.

The probe also found one suspect outside the country, making it an international case. The investigation, a case that was registered following a complaint on July 3, is likely to throw up more leads as it progresses. “This case is an eye-opener of how one needs to be cautious over online transactions. It is a lesson to the citizens to be more careful,” DCP Kaushik said.

Firstly, an effort in pursuit of the other gang members to recover the rest of the money has been coordinated across multiple states.