Cyber fraudsters cheat three elderly Nagpur residents of over Rs 60 lakh

Cyber fraud cases continue unabated in Nagpur city. In the past few days, fraudsters used different methods to target three elderly residents and cheated them of a combined Rs 60,73,000. One was lured with the promise of a pension card, another with a railway pension revision, and a third with the promise of a large sum in exchange for exchanging old notes and coins. On receiving complaints, cyber police have registered cases in all three matters and begun investigation.

The first case is from the Ajni police station area. Rajesh Waghmare, 60, a retired PWD employee, received a call from an unknown number on September 16. The caller claimed to be helping make a pension card and sent Waghmare a link, asking him to fill in his bank and debit card details on it. As soon as Waghmare entered the details, Rs 5,49,000 was withdrawn from his account without his approval. On noticing the deduction, he immediately filed a police complaint.

The second case involves Vijay Dhabre, 61, a retired railway employee living in the Rameshwari Ring Road area. This time the fraudster identified himself as Dharmendra Yadav and claimed to be a Divisional Railway Manager, assuring Dhabre that his pension would be revised. As the conversation progressed, the accused sent fake documents over WhatsApp and, under the pretext of getting a form filled, obtained his bank account, ATM card and CVV details. Using this information, the fraudsters siphoned off a total of Rs 31,97,000 from Dhabre's Bank of India and Bank of Maharashtra accounts.

The third case involves Pilaji Vithoba Somkuwar, 66, a resident of Abhyankar Nagar. Here the fraudsters used a different method, telling Somkuwar he would receive Rs 55,21,000 in exchange for old notes and coins. They contacted him through a WhatsApp group named "Old Coin Owner 17". To gain his trust, the fraudsters also created fake documents in the name of government tax, insurance and stamp duty charges. They then got Somkuwar to transfer Rs 23,26,000 via RTGS into several bank accounts under the pretext of various charges.

Cyber police have registered cases and stepped up investigation into all three matters. Police are now conducting a technical probe into the mobile numbers, bank accounts and online transactions used by the accused. They are trying to determine whether a single gang is behind all three incidents or whether separate cyber fraud networks are active.