Third Arrest in Chandigarh Work-From-Home Scam; Rs 9 Lakh Fraud Linked to Cambodia

The Cyber Crime police have arrested another suspect in a work-from-home scam that cheated a city woman of Rs 9 lakh. The accused, identified as Neeraj Pandey (25), a resident of Ludhiana, is the third person to be taken into custody in connection with the case.

Earlier, two other Ludhiana residents — Shivam (21) and Pramod Kumar (24) — were arrested after investigators traced the victim’s money to their bank accounts.

The case came to light after Gurvinder Pal Kaur, a resident of Chandigarh, lodged a complaint stating she was duped through a Telegram-based fake job offer. She was asked to perform online review tasks for e-commerce products, with the promise of earning high commissions.

Police said the fraudsters initially sent her small payments to gain her confidence. Later, they persuaded her to transfer over Rs 9 lakh, claiming the amount was needed to “unlock” her account and release pending commissions.

During the investigation, cybercrime officials analyzed bank transactions and digital footprints. The money trail led to accounts held by Shivam and Pramod Kumar, confirming their involvement.

A deeper technical probe revealed that the Telegram accounts used in the scam were operated from IP addresses traced to Cambodia, suggesting international links to the fraud network.

Police said efforts are underway to identify other members of the racket and coordinate with international cybercrime agencies to trace the masterminds.

“The arrest of Neeraj Pandey is a significant step forward in dismantling this network. We are pursuing leads that point to foreign operators running similar job scams targeting Indian citizens,” a senior cybercrime officer said.

Authorities have once again cautioned the public against falling for too-good-to-be-true online job offers, especially those conducted through social media or messaging platforms.

Victims of such scams are urged to report incidents promptly to the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (www.cybercrime.gov.in) or their nearest police station.