A man in his late 70s from Wadgaon Budruk falls victim to a fake Election Commission call, highlighting increasing scams targeting vulnerable voters amidst a surge in impersonation crimes in Pune.
A man in his late 70s from Wadgaon Budruk in Pune has lost Rs 4.98 lakh after fraudsters posing as Election Commission officials convinced him that his voter record under the Special Intensive Revision process needed urgent correction, police said.
According to police, the caller first reached the man by phone in the first week of August and later followed up with a WhatsApp video call, sending him a link for what was described as voter re-verification. The case, registered on Wednesday, adds to a growing list of cyber frauds that use the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls as a cover story, with scammers often focusing on older voters and warning them they could be left off the rolls if they did not act quickly.
The Pune case comes amid a run of scams in the city involving false identities and fabricated authority. The Times of India reported that a 25-year-old software engineer lost Rs 4.35 lakh in a matrimonial fraud after a man posing as an Indian Foreign Service officer claimed he was stationed in Russia and later asked for money for medical treatment. In another case, the same newspaper said a 65-year-old Pune resident lost Rs 9 lakh after being promised a government job for his son-in-law.
Pune police have also investigated other impersonation frauds involving fake army and defence links, including a recruitment scam in which job seekers were allegedly given forged call letters, and a separate case in which a retired banker lost Rs 4 crore over several years to a relative posing as a Military Intelligence officer. More recently, cybercrime reports from Pune have included a doctor who was allegedly cheated out of Rs 12.31 crore in a fake investment scheme, underscoring how convincingly fraudsters continue to exploit trust, urgency and official-sounding claims.
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