Written by Jagpreet Singh SandhuChandigarh | Updated: September 28, 2025 12:52 AM IST 3 min readAs per victim Om Prakash, ASI in Chandigarh Police, he lost money through a fake customer care number which was displayed on Google search (Representative image)While many have lost money by sharing OTPs (One Time Passwords), people from Chandigarh claim that they had just clicked on a link received for a routine task, and later, money was debited from their accounts.In a recent case, Malkeet Singh, working as an assistant secretary with the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana, has complained to the Chandigarh Cyber Crime Police that he was duped of nearly Rs 45,000 in just five minutes, without even sharing any OTP.“I usually shop my groceries from D Mart (a grocery store). While I was scrolling on internet, a link of D Mart popped up on my phone screen. I thought it was something related to my grocery shopping. I then filled my details as asked on my the popped up link, but then in just three minutes I received a message that an amount of Rs 19,608 has been debited from credit card,” said Singh.He added that in the meantime, he received a call from a bank associate telling him that a fraud has been reportedly committed on his card, and the bank associate told to block the card immediately, but then in the process of blocking the card, in a span of two minutes, Rs 24,515 was lost again.Singh said that on being advised by his friend, he called at the 1930 helpline number, but even after five-six calls, he received no response, and he then approached the Cyber Crime Police Station in Chandigarh to lodge a formal complaint.In a similar case, only through a link, the victim, an Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) of Chandigarh Police, lost Rs 3.90 lakh in two separate transactions.As per victim Om Prakash, ASI in Chandigarh Police, he lost money through a fake customer care number which was displayed on Google search, which is searched to recharge for an OTT subscription, but lost nearly Rs 3.9 lakh to scamsters.Story continues below this adOm Prakash said, “On February 9, 2025, I was streaming content on Disney Hotstar when a pop-up message prompted me to recharge my subscription plan of Rs 149. After making the payment, the service did not resume. Seeking assistance, I searched online and dialed a number listed on Google as Disney Hotstar’s customer care helpline.”However, fraudsters posing as customer support agents obtained my email ID and password. They kept me engaged in a 37-minute call, during which they gained access to my sensitive financial details. Initially, I did not receive any message of money debited from my account, but then while I checked later that on February 22, an amount of Rs 2 lakh and Rs 1.90 lakh was debited, said Om Prakash.As per the police, the scammers reportedly accessed the online banking of Om Prakash and used it for buying gold and used it online too. Although the police team has traced the fraudulent transactions to an IndusInd Bank account opened in the name of Imran Ansari, 25, a resident of West Bengal, but Om Prakash is yet to receive the lost amount.Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd