Chandigarh: Cyber cons allegedly duped a city resident of Rs 1.6 lakh on the pretext of paying an online traffic challan.Complainant Hansraj, a resident of Sector 29, told the police that on Jan 20, he received an SMS containing information about an online traffic challan. He visited the traffic police lines in Sector 29, where he was told that challan payment details would be sent to him via SMS.Later, he received another message containing a link. It said the vehicle was found to be in violation of traffic rules and directed him to make an immediate payment to avoid legal action. The link resembled an official govt website, Hansraj said.The victim said that he opened the link and was directed to a website which displayed challan details along with an option to pay Rs 1,000. He entered his credit card details to make the payment and entered the OTP received on his mobile phone. The website first showed an “under process” sign. Later, an unauthorised withdrawal of Rs 1,63,498 was made from his credit card account.Hansraj immediately got his credit card blocked and informed the bank’s customer care. He then filed a complaint with the cyber police station in Sector 17. Police have filed a case but no arrest has been made so far.Box: How to identify fake e-challan messagePolice said fraudulent messages often contain links like .in, .vip, or e-challanlink instead of official govt URLsAuthentic traffic police challans are issued from authorised SMS gateways, whereas fake ones frequently come from standard 10-digit mobile numbersFake messages that demand immediate payment within hours, or threaten severe action like arrest warrants or vehicle impoundment, are typically scamsFake messages often omit specific details like your exact vehicle registration number, the challan number, or the precise location of the offence
