Three women held in organised cyber fraud racket; Rs 1.73 Lakh credit card scam busted in Chandigarh

Chandigarh (Punjab) [India], January 9 (ANI): In a major breakthrough against cybercrime, the Chandigarh Cyber Crime Police Station has arrested three women for their alleged involvement in an organised cyber fraud racket that duped a city resident of Rs. 1.73 lakh through a credit card scam.
According to officials, the arrests were made in connection with an FIR dated December 26, 2025, registered under Sections 419, 318(4), 336(3), 338, 340(2) and 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) at Police Station Cyber Crime, UT Chandigarh.
Those arrested have been identified as Pratima Sharma, daughter of Virender Nath, a resident of Delhi-18; Roshni, daughter of Ram Shankar, from Delhi-59; and Juhi Sethi, wife of Suraj Sethi, from Delhi-27.
The operation was conducted under the leadership of SP (Cyber Crime) Geetanjali Khandelwal, IPS, with strategic guidance from DSP Cyber Crime A. Venkatesh and close supervision of Inspector Eram Rizvi, SHO, Police Station Cyber Crime, Sector 17, Chandigarh.
According to the police, the case was registered on the complaint of a resident of Sector 45, Chandigarh, who reported receiving WhatsApp and phone calls from an unknown woman posing as a representative of the American Express Credit Card department. The caller lured the victim with the promise of converting his SBI credit card into an American Express card and enhancing his credit limit.
The complainant was persuaded to click on a malicious link sent in the name of a Google Form, which led to unauthorised access to his mobile phone and fraudulent debit of Rs. 1,73,463 from his SBI credit card.
During the investigation, analysis of Customer Application Forms (CAF), Call Detail 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 technical evidence and after obtaining necessary permissions from senior officers, the police conducted a raid in Tilak Nagar, West Delhi, leading to the arrest of the three accused women.
A large cache of incriminating material was recovered during search and seizure operations, 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.
Police said several seized mobile phones contained extensive customer databases with names, addresses and mobile numbers, which were allegedly used by the accused to impersonate bank and credit card officials. The devices were also found to be linked to multiple bank accounts used for siphoning off money from victims.
During sustained interrogation, the accused admitted their involvement in cyber fraud and also disclosed the role of another associate. Further investigation is underway to identify additional accomplices, verify bank accounts opened using forged documents, and ascertain the total number of victims cheated by the racket.
Police have advised the public to remain cautious of unsolicited calls and messages offering credit card upgrades or limit enhancements, and to avoid clicking on unknown links. (ANI)