Four residents of Ferozepur have allegedly lost a combined ₹11.38 lakh in separate cyber-fraud incidents involving a fake wedding invitation, suspicious mobile-phone disruption and impersonation of airport customs officials.
The cases were registered after complaints made to the cybercrime helpline and local police. Cyber Crime Police Station in-charge Sukhbir Kaur said fraudsters are increasingly changing tactics and using familiar-looking messages, links and official-sounding identities to gain victims’ trust.
The four cases do not appear to involve the same victim or a single confirmed criminal group. They instead show how different social-engineering methods are being used within the same district.
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Two victims discovered money missing after phones stopped working
In one case, Gandhi Nagar resident Pankaj Kumar told police that his mobile phone suddenly switched off on September 22.
After restarting the device, he checked his bank accounts and discovered unauthorised online transactions totalling ₹3,72,921.60. He reported the incident to the national cybercrime helpline 1930 the following day.
A second victim, Ravinder Kumar of Sham Wala Chowk, reported a similar pattern.
His mobile phone also stopped functioning, and he later discovered that ₹1,05,999 had been transferred from his bank account. A case was registered after he approached the cybercrime helpline.
The available police account does not yet establish exactly how either phone was compromised.
A phone unexpectedly switching off can be associated with several possibilities, ranging from malware or device tampering to SIM-related interference. Forensic examination would be needed before attributing the losses to a specific technical method.
Wedding invitation link leads to ₹1.61 lakh loss
The third case involved a resident of the Old Basti Line area who received what appeared to be a wedding invitation on WhatsApp.
Police say the victim opened the link and later found ₹1,61,825 missing from bank accounts. A complaint was made on September 20 and a case was subsequently registered.
Fake wedding invitations have emerged as a recurring cyber-fraud tactic across India.
In several recent cases, attackers have sent Android APK files disguised as wedding cards. When installed, such malicious applications can seek permissions that expose SMS messages, OTPs, contacts or other information. In Ahmedabad, a woman recently lost ₹2.62 lakh after opening a wedding invitation APK sent from an acquaintance’s compromised WhatsApp account.
A separate Pune case involved a retired auditor who allegedly lost ₹2.75 lakh after opening a similar wedding invitation file.
Police in the Ferozepur case have described the material as a wedding invitation link, but the report does not specify whether it was an APK file. That distinction should remain clear unless a technical examination confirms the file type.
Fake airport customs officials take nearly ₹5 lakh
The largest of the four reported losses involved a victim who was allegedly contacted by people posing as airport customs officials.
The scammers claimed there was a problem involving a parcel and persuaded the victim to transfer ₹4,96,999. Police registered a case on September 24.
Parcel and customs scams often rely on fear and urgency.
Fraudsters may claim that a parcel contains illegal goods, undeclared currency or prohibited items and then demand payments in the name of customs duty, penalties, clearance charges or investigation fees.
Victims are sometimes transferred between multiple callers posing as customs officials, police officers or other government personnel to make the story appear more convincing.
A genuine customs or law-enforcement agency does not resolve a criminal allegation by demanding money into personal or unfamiliar bank accounts over a phone call.
Why these frauds work despite using different methods
The four Ferozepur cases look different on the surface, but they depend on the same basic weakness: persuading the victim to trust an apparently legitimate situation.
A wedding invitation looks personal.
A customs call sounds official.
A familiar mobile number or unexpected phone malfunction can make the victim focus on solving an immediate problem instead of questioning what is happening.
Once fraudsters create that urgency, they may push victims towards malicious links, unauthorised applications, bank transfers or disclosure of sensitive information.
Cybercriminals also increasingly combine several methods in one attack.
A compromised WhatsApp account may be used to send malware to contacts, while stolen phone access may allow OTPs or banking alerts to be intercepted.
Punjab has seen a sharp rise in cybercrime complaints
The cases come against a wider increase in reported cybercrime across Punjab.
The420.in reported earlier this month that cybercrime complaints recorded from Punjab on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal rose from 7,430 in 2021 to 49,200 in 2024. Another 29,143 complaints were recorded in the first six months of 2025.
Reported cyber frauds in the state have also involved more than ₹740 crore, according to the data cited in that report.
That wider trend makes local cases like Ferozepur important even where each individual loss is comparatively smaller.
The same fraud infrastructure can be reused against hundreds of people across different districts.
Police urge victims to report immediately
Sukhbir Kaur advised residents not to open unfamiliar links and not to disclose bank account details, ATM PINs, OTPs or other confidential information.
She also urged victims to contact police or call 1930 immediately after discovering suspected fraud.
Speed matters because stolen money is frequently moved through multiple mule accounts soon after a transaction.
The faster a complaint reaches banks and cybercrime authorities, the greater the chance that at least part of the money can be identified and frozen before it moves further.
The four Ferozepur cases remain under investigation, and police have not publicly identified the alleged perpetrators.
What this means for you: Treat unexpected wedding invitations, parcel calls and urgent banking messages as potential fraud attempts. Never install or open unfamiliar files, and independently verify any caller claiming to be from customs, a bank or another government agency before making a payment.
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