Retired Mumbai residents are increasingly falling prey to sophisticated cyber crimes exploiting election-related procedures, with victims losing lakhs after scammers pose as officials and manipulate their trust.
A retired college principal from Deonar has lost ₹17 lakh in what police believe is one of Mumbai’s first frauds to exploit the Special Intensive Revision, or SIR, of voter rolls. According to reports in the Free Press Journal, the victim was contacted by people posing as election officials who said his father’s name had been entered incorrectly on the voter list and that he needed to complete an SIR form immediately to remain eligible to vote. He was then persuaded to install an APK file, which gave the scammers access to his phone and, ultimately, his bank account.
The case fits a wider pattern of increasingly sophisticated cyber frauds aimed at older, financially secure victims. Mid-Day reported this month that a retired IIT-Bombay staff member lost ₹4.62 crore after being threatened with purported CBI action, while the Times of India has separately reported cases in which retired residents were cheated by imposters claiming to be enforcement or police officials. In each instance, the fraudsters relied on urgency, fear and official-sounding language to push victims into handing over sensitive information or moving money.
Other recent Mumbai cases show how varied these scams have become. The Indian Express reported that an 81-year-old retired railway engineer lost ₹26 lakh after a caller claiming to represent a bank asked for debit card details under the pretext of updating his life certificate. The Times of India has also reported a case in which a retired school principal in Mira Road lost ₹1.65 lakh after a stolen phone was used to make unauthorised transactions through a UPI app linked to his account.
Police and cybercrime investigators have repeatedly warned that fraud networks now mix social engineering with technical tricks to drain accounts quickly, often through shell entities and mule accounts used to move the money. Hindustan Times recently reported the arrest of a Palghar resident linked to 182 cyber fraud cases, underscoring how large and organised such operations have become.
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