Indian couple arrested over scam, duping Canadians worth millions: report
Toronto: An Indian-origin couple has been arrested for allegedly running an overseas telephone scam in which crooks posing as tax officials duped people around Rs 90.68 crore, a media report said on Saturday.
Brampton-based Gurinderpreet Dhaliwal, 37, and his wife Inderpreet Dhaliwal, 36, were arrested here on Saturday and charged with fraud and money-laundering, while an arrest warrant has been issued against their alleged partner Shantanu Manik, 26, who is believed to be in India, City News website, a Canada-based news portal, reported.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said that the fraudsters were targeting Canadians since 2014 by calling and identifying themselves as representatives from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) or RCMP, the report said.
"The scammers then tell the person on the phone that they owe back taxes, and threaten them if they don't pay the money back," the paper reported.
The RCMP said that between 2014 and 2019, Canadians lost over 16.8 million (Rs 90.8 crore) Canadian dollars to the scam and it has resulted in people being very suspicious when the CRA contacts them through legitimate ways.
The RCMP said their investigation into the scam uncovered money mules operating in Canada.
These mules would be ordered to courier proceeds from the scam to a specific name and address, or drop point, which led investigators to the Dhaliwal couple, RCMP'S Inspector Jim Ogden said.
We have disrupted the necessary flow of money from Canada to India which will have a big impact on the operation and the bottom line of the scammers," Ogden said.
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Bridge portion collapses on Jammu outskirts; 3-4 labourers feared trapped, 1 rescued
Jammu (PTI): A portion of a small bridge collapsed in the Bantalab area on the outskirts of Jammu city on Friday, trapping at least three to four labourers under the debris, while one injured worker was rescued, official sources said.
Authorities have closed the road link following the collapse of the portion of the bridge.
The incident occurred when labourers were carrying out repair work on a retaining wall near the bridge that was damaged in last year's flash floods, the sources said.
According to the sources, a section of the bridge suddenly gave way, burying workers engaged at the site under the rubble.
Police, Army and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams launched rescue operations to extricate those buried under the debris. They pulled out one injured labourer and shifted him to a hospital, the sources said.
Family members of the labourers present at the site said around six workers engaged at the site at the time of the incident came under the debris when the structure collapsed. The family members said while two of the labourers managed to escape, four got trapped.
The sources said those trapped included the husband of a woman labourer, a mason, an unmarried labourer and a relative of the contractor.
There was no official confirmation on the exact number of persons trapped under the debris till the filing of this report.
The rescue operations are ongoing.
