Vadodara: 87-year-old woman loses ₹91 lakh in phishing scam after calling fake bank helpline

Vadodara — An 87-year-old woman from the city’s upscale Akota area lost ₹91.1 lakh to cybercriminals after she unknowingly contacted a fake customer care number she found online. The fraudsters, posing as bank representatives, tricked her into sharing personal details and gaining access to her phone.

According to police, the victim, a widow, had accounts with Equitas Small Finance Bank (ESFB) and AU Small Finance Bank (AUSFB). She had a ₹2 lakh fixed deposit with ESFB that had matured to ₹2.1 lakh, which she wanted to transfer to her AUSFB account.

On October 20, while searching for the ESFB helpline number on her smartphone, she came across a fraudulent number listed online. When she called it, a man claiming to be a bank executive offered to assist her and asked her to dial a specific code and share photos of her Aadhaar card and debit card.

Unaware of the trap, the woman followed the instructions. Police later found that the code she dialed enabled call forwarding to a number controlled by the fraudsters, giving them access to her banking information. Over the next few days, between October 20 and 23, the criminals siphoned off ₹91,10,500 from her accounts.

The woman realized something was wrong when she could no longer access her accounts and contacted her daughter for help. They immediately reached out to the cybercrime helpline and the banks to freeze the transactions, but the funds could not be recovered.

Following this, a formal complaint was filed at the Vadodara Cybercrime Police Station. Police have begun an investigation and are working with the concerned banks to trace the money and identify the perpetrators.

Authorities have once again urged the public to avoid searching for customer care numbers on the internet and to rely only on official websites or verified bank sources.