2 weeks Ago
A Chandigarh-based steel trader was allegedly duped of ₹ 54.16 lakh by fraudsters posing as representatives of Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt Ltd, police said on Friday. The victim, Manish Aggarwal, a resident of Sector 21-A, had applied for a Toyota dealership in 2023 and was later lured into depositing huge sums of money on the pretext of registration, no objection certificate (NOC), and signage fees.
Aggarwal, who runs M/s Aggarwal Traders in Mohali’s Industrial Area, Phase 1, said he first came across an official-looking advertisement in a newspaper on October 5, 2023, which directed interested applicants to the official Toyota Bharat website. He filled out and submitted the dealership application form through the provided email. Nearly two and a half months later, he received a call from a man who claimed to be from Toyota’s dealership team and discussed the application and site suitability.
A meeting followed on May 21, 2024, which was allegedly attended by individuals posing as company officials, including a person impersonating as a Japanese CEO. The convincing virtual interaction reassured Aggarwal of the authenticity of the process. In February 2025, he was again contacted by a man introducing himself as Akshay Mahajan from Toyota Bangalore, who claimed that the previous application had expired and needed to be resubmitted.
Following this, a fake Letter of Intent (LOI) was sent to Aggarwal from a lookalike email ID, along with the instructions to transfer ₹ 6,67,290 as dealership registration fee to a Bank of Maharashtra account that appeared to be in Toyota’s name. He also transferred ₹ 47 lakh in two instalments for installing a Toyota signage. Realising the inconsistencies, Aggarwal directly contacted Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt Ltd, which confirmed that it had neither sent the LOI nor received any payments.
Aggarwal then lodged an online complaint on the cyber crime portal and submitted a written statement to the police on February 27. Realising the inconsistencies, Aggarwal directly contacted Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt Ltd, which confirmed that it had neither sent the LOI nor received any payments. Aggarwal then lodged an online complaint on the cyber crime portal and submitted a written statement to the police on February 27.
A case under Sections 61 (2) (criminal conspiracy), 318 (4) (cheating), 319 (2) (cheating by personation), 336 (3) (forgery), 338 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc) and 340 (2) (forged document or electronic record and using it as genuine) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) has been registered. Conman posing as cop threatens driver of fake rape case, extorts ₹ 7L A 51-year-old driver working at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) was duped of over ₹ 7.18 lakh by a fraudster impersonating as a sub-inspector, police officials said on Friday.
The victim, Gurdhian, a resident of Dashmesh Nagar, Nayagaon, had lodged a formal complaint with the cyber crime police station, Sector 17, on January 10. According to the statement, Gurdhian received a WhatsApp call on January 7 from an unknown number claiming to be a sub-inspector from Noida police. The caller falsely accused him of raping a girl and demanded money to “settle” the case, threatening legal consequences if he failed to comply.
The fraudster provided a Canara Bank account number and asked Gurdhian to deposit ₹ 76,000. Frightened by the accusation, Gurdhian visited the State Bank of India branch at PGIMER and transferred the said amount through NEFT. However, the extortion continued over the next two days.
The fraudster, who identified himself as Abhishek in later WhatsApp voice calls from another number, coerced the victim into making multiple transfers to the same Canara Bank account and to another account in Utkarsh Small Finance Bank, claiming that the earlier payments were insufficient. In total, Gurdhian transferred ₹ 7,18,042 over the span of three days. The police have registered a case under Sections 61(2) , 318 (4), 319 (2), 336 (3), 338 and 340 (2) of the BNS.
.
