Chandigarh news: Online fraudsters target former Army officer, cheat him of Rs 50,000

Capt Satija (Retd) had received an email from the mail account of Lt Gen Harwant Singh (Retd) of Sector 33, claiming that he is out of country and travelling on a cruise with his family, and need immediate financial assistance of Rs 1 lakh, which has to be transferred into one account for the construction of his housing project in Shimla. The incident happened in October this year. An FIR was registered at the Sector 34 police station on Tuesday.

Capt Satija (Retd) said, “I received a mail. In the email, names of all the family members of Lt Gen Harwant Singh, including his wife, son, grandchildren, were mentioned claiming that they all were travelling on a cruise. I had received the mail during night. I tried to call him, but his cell phone was out of reach. Next day, I called Lt Gen Harwant Singh on his landline but the phone was picked by his servant. The servant told me that Singh was out of station. I presumed that Lt Gen Singh is out of country. I tried to transfer Rs 1 lakh into the account mentioned in the email but the bank transferred only Rs 50,000. Next day, Lt Gen Harwant Singh (Retd) called me. I was stunned when he told me that he had not sought any financial assistance. He told me that his phone was out of reach because he had gone to attend Khushwant Singh Lit Fest in Kasuali hills.”

Capt Satija, who was commissioned into the Indian Army through Short Service Commission, filed a complaint at public window on October 15. After retirement, he set up his insurance business in Chandigarh.

A police officer said, “Online fraudsters were aware of the relationship between Lt Gen Harwant Singh (Retd) and Capt Gulshan Satija (Retd). They were also aware of the identities of family members of Lt Gen Singh. We lodged the FIR after obtaining legal opinion. An Inspector-rank officer was deputed for identifying the fraudsters.”

Another online fraud

A Sector 16 resident, Surinder Kumar, lodged an FIR against a Mohali man for online cheating of Rs 3.58 lakh with him on Tuesday. The accused was identified as Manpreet Singh of Bhatauli village in Mohali. Police said the online fraud with Surinder Kumar happened between July 20 and October 17, 2019. The cyber cell lodged an FIR at the Sector 17 police station. Police said suspect Manpreet Singh is known to victim Surinder Singh.