Jind residents suffer as police fail to tackle cyber scams

JIND: Cyber fraudsters have demanded ransom from the senior BJP leader whose name has been used to carry out cyber frauds in Jind over the past several days repeatedly. Notably two cyber frauds have been committed and frequent calls are being made randomly to different people to trap them in similar ways. They have come up with a new way of cheating but have failed to act on such miscreants so far.Recently, a case of fraud worth Rs 12,500 was committed where a food order was placed online in the name of a senior BJP leader Raj Singh Saini who runs a hospital as well.A person running a dhaba at Batak Chowk in Jind told that he received a WhatsApp call where the caller claimed to be speaking on behalf of BJP district general secretary Dr. Raj Saini.The caller mentioned that a conference of doctors had been organized, and lunch arrangements needed to be made for the participating doctors. He placed an order for some dishes, including a special dish worth Rs 12,500. The dhaba owner informed the caller that the special dish was not available at his establishment. The caller then provided a mobile number, asking the dhaba owner to contact that number to order the dish. He assured that the bills for both orders would be combined.The dhaba owner placed the order and made an online payment of Rs 12,500 on that number provided by the caller.The dhaba owner said he made the payment believing it to be a genuine company. However, the scammer sent him a screenshot of a Rs 27,000 voucher in the name of Raj Hospital to gain trust. When the ordered dish did not arrive for a long time, the dhaba owner tried to contact the given mobile number, but it was no longer reachable.When the dhaba owner later contacted the person who placed the food order, they casually responded that the doctors’ conference was over and suggested distributing the food to the poor or anyone in need, as the payment had already been made. This is when the dhaba owner realized he had been scammed and contacted BJP leader Dr. Raj Saini, who clarified that he had no involvement in the order.Moreover, they used the similar method with an owner of a private hotel identified as Basant Ahlawat. Talking to TOI, Ahlawat stated that the caller made a fraud of Rs 70,000 with him in the same way. They narrated the same story saying a conference of doctors in the name of Dr Raj Singh Saini and ordered a special dish but later deceived in the same manner. “ I was unaware of such a kind of fraud and they used a new way of fraud in this region. Police should take strict action on such issues,” he added.Cyber fraudsters later made an attempt to commit the same crimes in the city.Dr. Raj Saini stated that “i advised anyone receiving orders in his name to verify the details directly with me before proceeding. Now they dared to ask ransom by making a call. However, they didn’t disclose the amount of ransom but threatened to face dire consequences if the amount was not paid. Caller said to us that seva paani kardo picha chhod denge, (Settle the matter with money, and we'll leave you),” said Saini.Jind Police SP Rajesh Kumar didn’t respond to calls and text message despite repeated attempts.