A retired Indian Railways chief ticket inspector in Ahmedabad lost ₹5 lakh after clicking a fraudulent Facebook advertisement offering a Bank of Baroda senior citizen pensioners card, according to a complaint registered with the Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Branch. The scammers allegedly collected his personal and banking details through a WhatsApp APK file before threatening him with a monthly penalty if he cancelled the card.
Arunkumar Satyaprakash Puri, 80, lives at Chandramauli Residency near Devnandan Heights in Chandkheda. He retired from the Railways as a chief ticket inspector in 2007, according to the report. On October 18, while browsing Facebook at home, he saw an advertisement titled “BOB BANK SENIOR CITIZEN PENSIONERS CARD” and clicked on it.
After the click, he received a WhatsApp message from an unknown number containing an APK file. When he opened the file, a form appeared asking for his name, address, mobile number registered with the bank, debit card details, Aadhaar details and PAN details. Puri filled in the requested information, after which an unknown person contacted him through a video call.
During the call, the person told Puri that his pension card had been prepared and asked for his bank account number, saying that the card would be delivered to his home. Puri became suspicious and refused to provide the account number. He also said that he did not want the card.
The caller then allegedly told him that cancelling the card would result in a penalty of ₹9,600 being deducted every month. Concerned about the threatened deduction, Puri reportedly asked the caller not to cancel the card but to send it to his Kalol branch instead. The report said he did not realise at that stage that the pensioners card offer was being used for a cyber fraud.
The fraudsters subsequently used the information obtained from him to withdraw ₹5 lakh from his bank account. Puri became aware of the transaction after receiving a bank message and approached the Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Branch. Police have registered a case and begun further investigation into the people who sent the advertisement, supplied the APK file and allegedly accessed the account.
The incident shows how a seemingly targeted financial-services advertisement can move a victim from a social media platform to an unknown messaging account and then to a malicious application. The reported use of a false penalty threat also formed a key part of the operation, pressuring the retired officer to continue with the process despite his initial hesitation. The cyber crime investigation will now determine how the stolen information was used and trace the persons involved.
