Punjab: From the rich to the common man, everyone is at the mercy of digital fraudsters

Punjab: Do the MP wife of a former Chief Minister, a well-known industrialist with a turnover of over ₹10,500 crore, a retired IPS officer, a former bank manager, and hundreds of others like them who have retired from high positions have anything in common? Despite being highly educated and tech-savvy, people in Punjab are falling prey to cyber fraudsters based in India and abroad. Numerous cases have emerged of people being defrauded and mentally harassed after being put under “digital arrest.” From losing crores of rupees to recovering only a small amount, such cases recently erupted into a major controversy when a retired IG-rank officer lost ₹8 crore to such cyber fraudsters and attempted suicide by shooting himself in the chest. A similar case came to light in 2019, when Preneet Kaur, wife of then Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and MP from Patiala, was duped of ₹2.3 million by a Jharkhand-based gang. They called her a few times, collected some OTPs, and then defrauded her. Police arrested and interrogated the accused gang members, revealing that the gang was involved in a swindle of ₹5 crore.
Patiala SSP Varun Sharma, who solved the cyber fraud case involving former IG Amar Singh Chahal, says, “From instilling fear by threatening fake police cases to luring people into investing in fraudulent stock market platforms, cyber fraudsters are constantly on the lookout to defraud unsuspecting individuals. Using various methods, fraudsters are targeting vulnerable individuals without any restraint, while we strive to stay one step ahead of these cybercriminals, who constantly find new ways to target innocent people.” Chahal’s case raised alarm bells in Punjab because, instead of contacting the department he had worked for over three decades, he attempted to take his own life, leaving behind a suicide note. He said, “The priority now is to recover the money, as the money has been transferred to multiple accounts and is being operated by people based abroad. This process is lengthy and time-consuming. Now, we have dedicated teams and divisions to ensure the arrest of such gangs.”
In another high-profile case of cyber arrests and money transfers, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) made arrests in connection with a money-laundering investigation involving a digital arrest involving prominent Ludhiana industrialist SP Oswal. Agencies said Oswal, chairman of the Vardhman Group, was digitally arrested in August 2023 by fraudsters who posed as Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials and extorted ₹7 crore from him. It states, “The accused were in contact with foreign associates to commit these crimes, providing mule accounts to foreign nationals, and assisting them in transferring the illegal proceeds to foreign territories.” Police say they are working to curb cyber fraud, but members of the public say much more needs to be done, as hundreds of such cases remain pending in every district for the past three years, with no significant progress. While agencies have succeeded in some of these cases, the number of cybercrime arrests and hundreds of other online fraud cases continues to rise. A cybercrime wing insider says, “By using multiple accounts to transfer money, sometimes it is transferred to more than 1,000 accounts, and the amount can be as low as ₹1,000. Therefore, tracing and tracking them is a difficult task.”