CHINIOT: Two persons have lost cash – Rs1 million and Rs600,000 – in swindling incidents here during the last week.

On Dec 20, furniture trader Faisal Rashid withdrew Rs1m from a bank branch on Jhang Road when a man came to him and handed him over a bag of cash, saying it was his (Faisal’s) bag. Faisal could not resist the bounty and accepted the bag. As he was counting the bills, another person appeared on the scene and accused Faisal of stealing his money bag. This ensued a brawl.

A third person intervened in the matter and introduced himself as a policeman and asked the trader to hand over all the belongings to him and swear in front of all that he had not stolen the money. When the trader gave him his cash, the con policeman and his two accomplices fled on a motorcycle.

On Dec 22, an unidentified man came to the shop of prize bond dealer Rizwan at Tehsil Chowk and sold a Rs200 bond, which, he said, had hit a jackpot worth Rs750,000 in the recent draw. He sold the bond for Rs600,000. When the bond was presented to a bank for prize money, the bond turned out to be fake. The CNIC copy of the seller was also fake.

It is learnt that swindlers are calling people to get the passwords of their mobile banking accounts and once they get a password, the cons empty their accounts. Affected people do not report such cases to the police.

Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2021