A simple offer on WhatsApp to “upgrade” a credit card turned into a costly trap for a Chandigarh resident, who was duped of Rs 1.73 lakh by cyber fraudsters posing as officials of a prominent foreign credit card firm. The Cyber Crime Police of Chandigarh arrested three women from Delhi on December 26 in connection with the case.
“A massive cache of incriminating material was recovered from their possession, including 28 mobile phones, 82 SIM cards, 55 ATM cards, two Aadhaar cards, two PAN cards, eight dongles, 27 landline phones, wireless transmitters, passbooks, cheque books, notebooks, and other documents,” said A Venkatesh, DSP Cyber Crime, Chandigarh Police.
The police said that several seized mobile phones contained extensive customer databases with names, addresses, and mobile numbers.
The accused have been identified as Pratima Sharma, Roshni, and Juhi Sethi — all residents of Delhi, the police said.
According to police, the complainant, a resident of Sector-45, Chandigarh, received WhatsApp messages and phone calls from a woman claiming to be the representative of the credit card firm. Under the pretext of converting his existing credit card into a card of the global firm, and enhancing his credit limit, the fraudsters convinced him to click on a malicious link sent in the name of a Google form. Soon after, the scammers gained unauthorised access to his mobile phone and siphoned off Rs 1,73,463 from his SBI credit card.
Technical analysis of Call Data Records (CDR), IP address tracking, and KYC verification revealed that the accused were operating from the Ashok Nagar and Uttam Nagar areas of Delhi. Acting on the leads, the police conducted a raid at Tilak Nagar, West Delhi, and arrested all three accused.
The police said several seized mobile phones contained extensive customer databases with names, addresses, and mobile numbers.
The accused allegedly used this information to impersonate bank and credit card officials to target unsuspecting victims. The phones were also linked to multiple bank accounts used to route the defrauded money, said Inspector Iram Rizvi, Station House Officer, Cyber Crime police station, Chandigarh.
During interrogation, the accused admitted to their role in cyber fraud and disclosed the involvement of an associate, said the police.
Further investigation is underway to identify more accomplices, verify bank accounts opened using forged documents, and determine the total number of victims cheated by the gang, said an officer.
Meanwhile, the Cyber Crime police have issued an advisory urging people not to click on suspicious links received through WhatsApp, SMS, or unknown emails and never share OTPs, CVV numbers, or banking details with anyone. People have been advised to verify callers through official customer care channels before acting on any such requests.
According to police, the complainant, a resident of Sector-45, Chandigarh, received WhatsApp messages and phone calls from a woman claiming to be the representative of the credit card firm. (Express Photo) 
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