FPJ Cyber Secure: 78-Year-Old Army Officer Falls Victim To DMart Employee Impersonation Scam, Loses ₹2.99 Lakh

A 78-year-old retired lieutenant colonel army officer Atul Gupte, residing at Azad Nagar in Andheri West, was duped of Rs 2.99 lakh in an online fraud where the perpetrator posed as a DMart employee, manipulating him through a deceptive link.

On December 1, at 10:30 am, Gupte received a link on his mobile phone, purportedly from a DMart employee. The message claimed to facilitate the exchange of a floor map cleaner, a product Gupte had purchased on the DMart online site. The fraudulent messenger requested him to fill out a form and transfer Rs 4 twice as part of the purported exchange. Trusting the instructions, Gupte complied.

After transferring Rs 4 twice, Gupte received notifications of consecutive debits from his SBI accounts – Rs 99,999 and Rs 74,000, along with an additional notification from HDFC Bank indicating a debit from his account. In total, the fraudster managed to siphon off Rs 2 ,98,998.

Gupte promptly filed an FIR against an unidentified individual. The charges include sections 419 (cheating) and 420 (cheating and dishonesty) of the Indian Penal Code, along with relevant sections of the Information Technology Act. The FIR was registered at Amboli police station on December 1.