Haryana: Woman duped of Rs 1 lakh on pretext of getting doctor's appointment

Panchkula: An internet search for an appointment number of a private hospital doctor turned nightmare for a 26-year-old woman who lost Rs 1 lakh to cyber fraudsters in Panchkula.

After being caught in the web of the cybercriminals, the woman realised and approached the Sector 5 police station to file a complaint against the fraudsters following which an FIR was registered under Section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code.

According to the police, the incident occurred on June 6 when the woman, a resident of Sector 12, Panchkula was feeling sick and wanted to get checked by a doctor. In order to book a doctor's appointment at Shri Ram Hospital in Sector 11, the woman opened Google and searched for the number of the hospital.

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Based on the top Google search result, the woman picked the top number on the site and dialled the number. When a person answered her call, he/she asked her to send her details in a message. The woman said she received a ‘Hi’ message on her phone. When she replied, the person asked her to send Rs 10 as an online payment for making an appointment and sent one link, reports TOI.

When the woman clicked the link and made Rs 10 payment, she received a message saying her appointment has been booked for 6.30 pm and her token number was 6.

However, soon she realised the entire booking process was fraud after the hospital staff informed her that there is no online booking system at the hospital. Following this, on June 7, the woman received a text message on her phone that ₹99,999 were debited from her bank account.

Shocked by the text, she checked her bank account and found the money missing in her account. This prompted her to approach the police and an investigation into the case is underway.

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