+92 calling? Think twice before you answer

Like in many other parts of India,the new trend in online frauds has left the police in a tizzy in Chandigarh too.

Like in many other parts of India,the new trend in online frauds has left the police in a tizzy in Chandigarh too. With residents being duped by callers from Pakistan,the city polices investigations are hitting a dead-end at the beginning as they are unable to trace the calls. The Cyber Cell of Chandigarh Police is getting numerous complaints from the people who have been duped of lakhs online after receiving a call from numbers starting with +92.

In a recent case,a retired lieutenant colonel has been duped of Rs 5 lakh in a span of one week. According to his complaint,it all started with a phone call. The caller told this resident of Sector 36 that he had been selected through a lucky draw to have dinner with actor Shah Rukh Khan in Mumbai. For the retired officer,it was a dream offer and he showed keen interest in dining with the star. The next day,the unknown caller told him that he needed to fulfil certain formalities before the dinner. The ex-Armyman fell in the trap and deposited nearly Rs 5 lakh over a period of six days in an account located in the branch of a bank in Mumbai. Once he had deposited the money,the retired officer never received any call,and did not get any response when he tried to call back at the same phone number. He soon realised that that he had been cheated and reported the matter to the Cyber Cell.

The police discovered that the phone call had originated from Pakistan and the money deposited by the retired officer was withdrawn from the bank the same day. On checking the credentials of the account holder,the police found that he no longer lived on the address and might have possibly used fake credentials to open the account.

In 2010,the former principal of an engineering institute in Chandigarh,was duped of around Rs 27 lakh online. The callers from Pakistan had told the retired principal that he had won a lottery,for which he needed to make certain payments towards taxes for the money transfer. The police failed to make any headway in the case.

According to the Chandigarh Police,the number of complaints pertaining to such calls from Pakistan is increasing. In February,the Crime Branch arrested the member of a gang operating from Pakistan and duping people in this region. The person used to withdraw money from the bank accounts,buy Dish TV coupons and forward the codes to his accomplices in Pakistan.

Most of the phone calls are made from numbers starting with +92,which originate from Pakistan. We are handicapped as we cannot trace these calls and the persons making them. People need to be careful and should not fall in such traps. One should ignore the phone number prefixed with the code of +92 unless one knows the caller, said Inspector Neeraj Sarna,In-charge,Cyber Crime Investigation Cell.

If you have never purchased a lottery ticket,how can you win one? People are making a fool of themselves by walking into such traps, added another senior UT police officer.

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Similar complaints of callers from Pakistan duping people have been received by the police in other cities and towns of the country,too.

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