Pune: Army Colonel loses ₹3.81L to fake traffic challan scam
An Army colonel in Pune lost ₹3.81 lakh after falling for a cyber scam earlier this week.
He clicked a link in an SMS about a supposed traffic fine, which led him to a website that looked like an official payment portal.
Trusting it was real, he entered his card details and OTP—only to have the money quickly siphoned off to a hotel account in Hong Kong.
The incident has been reported and an FIR filed.
What's happening now
Police and cybercrime teams are investigating the international transaction and tracing who's behind it.
This scam is part of a bigger trend in Pune where fake e-challan links steal people's banking info.
Officials are reminding everyone: always use official government sites for payments, and if something feels off, report it right away at cyber helpline 1930.