In a shocking incident in Chandigarh, a retired army officer, Colonel Dalip Singh (82), and his wife, Ravinder Kaur Bajwa (74), were duped into losing a staggering ₹3.41 crore to a group of fraudsters who posed as Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials.
The scam unfolded on March 18 when Bajwa received a call from an unfamiliar number, with the caller accusing him of being involved in a money laundering case. The scammers falsely claimed that Bajwa had sold his bank account details to Naresh Goyal, the incarcerated former owner of Jet Airways, for ₹5 lakh. To intensify their ruse, they claimed Bajwa had received a commission of ₹20 lakh for laundering ₹2 crore.
To make their story more convincing, the scammers even showed Bajwa his ATM card during a video call, pretending to investigate a massive ₹5,038-crore scam. They sent photos of alleged victims and fabricated the claim that a whistleblower and their family had been murdered.
The fraudsters further intimidated Bajwa by stating that the Supreme Court had issued an arrest warrant against him. When Bajwa expressed his inability to travel to Mumbai due to his age, they assured him an online inquiry would suffice, during which they interrogated him about Goyal’s case.
Using threats of ruining his reputation in the media, the fraudsters placed Bajwa and his wife under “digital arrest,” forbidding them from speaking to anyone or disconnecting their phone calls. This manipulation lasted for 10 days, from March 18 to March 27.
In the meantime, the scammers coerced Bajwa into revealing his bank details, leading him to transfer large sums of money. On March 20, Bajwa transferred ₹8 lakh, followed by ₹60 lakh on March 21, ₹80 lakh on March 24, ₹88 lakh on March 25, and ₹1.05 crore on March 27. His bank account was eventually drained.
The fraudsters didn’t stop there; they also targeted his wife, persuading Bajwa to break her fixed deposits (FDs) to “close the case.” In an attempt to maintain control, they kept Bajwa on video calls 24/7, threatening to retaliate if interrupted.
It wasn’t until the end of March that Bajwa realized he had fallen victim to a scam. On April 1, he reported the fraud to the cybercrime police station in Chandigarh, and an FIR was filed. The authorities have managed to recover ₹6 lakh of the lost funds.
Police are advising the public to remain vigilant and to avoid sharing personal information with unknown callers. Any suspicious calls should be reported to the cybercrime helpline (1930), and legal notices should be verified with the relevant authorities.
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