Ludhiana: The cybercrime police have arrested a man for defrauding an NRI of Rs 28 lakh through a cyber scam, using techniques he learned from YouTube. The accused has been identified as Palwinder Singh (41) from Leehan village in Ludhiana.
The victim, NRI Iqbal Singh Sandhu, a Canadian national from BRS Nagar, often visited Ludhiana and would call Palwinder to drive his car. Palwinder’s regular job was as a taxi driver.
On Nov 13, Iqbal filed a complaint at the cybercrime police station, alleging that Rs 28 lakh from his three bank accounts had been fraudulently used between May 12 and Oct 31.
The police initiated a probe and concluded that Palwinder was behind the fraud. Upon being apprehended and questioned, Palwinder confessed to the crime.
Inspector Jatinder Singh, SHO at the cybercrime police station, said: “The police probe found that on May 11, Iqbal had flown to Canada. Palwinder had gone to drop him at Amritsar airport. A few kilometres before the airport, they stopped for a tea break, during which Palwinder replaced Iqbal’s SIM card. Iqbal did not notice the change at that time as he switched to an international SIM soon after boarding the flight.”
“Palwinder was aware of the password to Iqbal’s email ID and now had access to his mobile number also through the SIM card. He told the police that he had been watching YouTube videos for several months to learn how to transfer money from someone’s bank account. He had also applied for new debit cards in Iqbal’s name by making an online request and used UPI to make various transactions from Iqbal’s account,” said the SHO.
The accused would make payment at fuel stations by using the debit newly issued debit cards and would get cash from them.
The police have recovered Rs 13.58 lakh from the accused, besides passbooks, cheque books and debit cards.
When asked about the content available on YouTube, the SHO said that several similar cases have been reported in the past where people have used YouTube videos to commit frauds and crimes.
When asked why such content is not removed from the platform, he said that higher authorities have taken up the matter, but no effective action has been taken.
The SHO said that accused Palwinder was using the stolen money to construct a new house in his village. He had informed everyone that he had taken a bank loan of Rs 28 lakh for the construction.