A 66-year-old woman in Ranchi has allegedly been duped of ₹2.99 lakh in a cyber fraud after a scammer posing as an Indian Army soldier contacted her on the pretext of renting her house. Police have registered a case and initiated an investigation. The allegations remain under investigation and will be subject to judicial process.
According to the complaint, Shahina Khatoon, a resident of Samriddhi Complex in South Office Para under Doranda police station limits, and her husband had advertised their property for rent. After seeing the advertisement, a man identifying himself as “Ashish Kumar Pahadi” allegedly contacted them, claiming to be an Indian Army personnel.
Police said the suspect allegedly sent copies of an Aadhaar card and PAN card through WhatsApp to establish credibility. He then claimed he wanted to pay the advance rent digitally and instructed the victim to use PhonePe, Google Pay and the Union Bank “Union Ease” application to complete the transaction.
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Investigators allege that during the conversation, the fraudster manipulated the victim into disclosing confidential banking information, including OTPs, security PINs and other sensitive credentials. Using those details, ₹2,99,500 was allegedly transferred from her Union Bank account through IMPS at around 9:06 p.m. on June 28, 2026.
When the couple realised they had been defrauded, they contacted the suspect, who allegedly attempted to mislead them by sending a fake SMS claiming that the money had been refunded. However, after checking their bank account, they discovered that no such credit had been received.
The victim subsequently lodged a complaint on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal, following which an FIR was registered at the Cyber Crime Police Station. Police are examining the mobile numbers, bank accounts and digital transaction trail linked to the accused.
Authorities said efforts are also underway to freeze the beneficiary bank accounts in an attempt to recover the defrauded amount. The investigation remains ongoing.
A Researcher at Algoritha Security said cybercriminals frequently exploit trust by impersonating members of the armed forces or other government officials in rental and online marketplace scams. The researcher advised property owners never to share OTPs, UPI PINs or internet banking credentials with anyone, regardless of the reason given, and to independently verify a prospective tenant’s identity before accepting digital payment requests. Victims of such fraud should immediately report the incident to the cybercrime helpline and their bank to improve the chances of blocking fraudulent transactions.
