₹22-Crore Dream Turns Nightmare — Pune Octogenarian Trapped in Elaborate Investment Scam
What began as a promise of easy stock-market riches ended in one of Pune’s biggest individual cyber frauds, leaving an 85-year-old retired industrial consultant poorer by nearly ₹22 crore and investigators chasing a complex financial trail stretching across multiple states — and possibly beyond India.
The complaint, filed on January 19, 2026, at Pune’s Cyber Police Station, triggered an investigation that has so far led to eight arrests.
Police say the operation relied heavily on “mule accounts”, including several opened under the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana.
The trap: profits on screen, losses in reality
According to investigators, fraudsters contacted the victim in late October 2025, presenting themselves as professional stock market advisers.
They added him to a WhatsApp group named Special Training Team B and persuaded him to install a mobile application designed to simulate trading activity.
Gradually, the scammers collected his personal and banking details and guided him to transfer money as “investments”.
Between October 27 and January 9, the elderly man and his wife transferred money through 80 online transactions into multiple accounts.
The fake application displayed soaring gains — nearly ₹45 crore — reinforcing his belief that he was earning massive returns.
The illusion collapsed when he attempted to withdraw funds. The fraudsters demanded an additional ₹4 crore as a “processing fee”. Only then did the victim realise he had been cheated.
How the money moved
Police told the court the funds were routed into seven primary bank accounts and then dispersed into numerous other accounts.
Data from the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal indicates these accounts were linked to roughly 80,000 suspicious transactions.
Three of those accounts were opened under Jan-Dhan Yojana at a Bank of Maharashtra branch in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar. Authorities are also examining the Setu centre that facilitated their creation.
Investigators uncovered a chain of handlers passing bank credentials — ATM cards, passbooks, usernames and passwords — from one person to another, forming a distribution network.
One suspect’s visiting card was recovered from another accused, suggesting coordinated activity.
Phone records indicate money withdrawn from ATMs was further routed through hawala channels. CCTV footage from withdrawal locations is now under review.
Arrests and ongoing probe
Among those detained are account holders as well as intermediaries managing the financial network.
Police are also analysing phone numbers and WhatsApp communications used by the masterminds, who remain unidentified.
Authorities suspect an international link, as part of the funds appears to have been transferred abroad.
So far, investigators have managed to freeze ₹3.28 crore from the siphoned amount while continuing efforts to trace the remaining money and determine whether the accused are part of a larger organised cybercrime syndicate.
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