A retired railway engineer was duped of ₹18.45 lakh by cyber fraudsters who tricked him under the pretext of a pension correction. The victim, Anil Kumar, a resident of Vaishali Nagar Gas Godown Road, had retired on June 30, 2025, and stored his entire life savings in his pension account.
On Tuesday, Kumar received a call claiming that certain documents needed updating to ensure a smooth pension revision. Trusting the caller, he agreed to follow instructions. Soon after, a PDF file was sent to his phone. The moment he opened the file, his device was hacked. Within minutes, multiple transactions were initiated, and a total of ₹18.45 lakh vanished from his account.
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Complaint Registered, Police Probe Underway
Shocked by the sudden loss, Kumar immediately approached Kotwali police station and lodged a complaint. Police registered a case and involved the cyber cell and bank officials in the investigation. Officials are tracing the transactions and examining digital footprints to track the culprits.
“This is not just financial theft but an attack on my years of hard work,” Kumar said. “I had kept all my retirement savings in this account, hoping to secure my future.”
Experts Warn Senior Citizens
Cybercrime expert and former IPS officer Prof. Triveni Singh stressed that such scams are becoming alarmingly common. “Senior citizens and pensioners are soft targets because they tend to trust technology without verifying suspicious calls, messages, or files. Unless they learn to recognize digital red flags, such frauds will persist,” he said.
Police have urged the public to remain vigilant and not trust unsolicited calls, links, or files. They advised pensioners to confirm details directly with authorized offices instead of relying on unknown callers.
A Growing Threat for the Elderly
This case highlights the rising vulnerability of senior citizens in India to cybercrime. For many, their pension is not just money but the safeguard of a lifetime’s effort. Protecting these savings against online fraudsters has now become one of the most pressing challenges of the digital age.