Elderly Ahmedabad man duped of ₹30 lakh by scamsters posing as Finance Ministry, RBI, IRDAI officials

In yet another instance of sophisticated online financial fraud, a 79-year-old retired man from Ahmedabad has lodged a police complaint alleging that he was cheated of over ₹30 lakh by a group of fraudsters who posed as senior government officials from the Ministry of Finance, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI).

As per the FIR registered with the Cyber Crime Cell, Ahmedabad City, Sitaram Sharma, a resident of Sabarmati, said the fraud took place between July 2024 and October 2025. Sharma, who lives with his family, told police that the fraudsters first contacted him through WhatsApp calls and emails, claiming that he was entitled to receive insurance funds amounting to several lakhs.

The complainant said the first call came on July 16, 2024, from a person identifying himself as Anil Kumar Bhardwaj, who claimed to be the chief general manager of the State Bank of India. The caller sent him a photo of a forged ID card and a fabricated balance sheet bearing SBI’s letterhead, showing Sharma’s personal details and a supposed “fund recovery amount” of ₹23.75 lakh. Bhardwaj then convinced Sharma to pay various “processing charges” and provided him with account details of different private banks for fund transfers.

Over the following months, Sharma said he was contacted by several others posing as senior officials — including Vivek Arora (claiming to be from IGMS), Santosh Kumar Mishra (claiming to be from IRDAI), Chandan Nath (posing as a fund manager, IRDAI), and Shyam Sundar Mukunda (posing as an assistant manager, Ministry of Finance). All of them allegedly used government-designated titles and sent him digitally altered letters on forged letterheads of the RBI, IRDAI, NPCI, and the Department of Financial Services, complete with official seals and signatures, including that of the Union Finance Minister.

The letters, sent via WhatsApp and email, stated that Sharma’s “insurance maturity funds” were pending due to “NOC charges”, “fund management charges”, or “file processing fees” and that his money would be released upon payment. Convinced by the authenticity of the documents, Sharma made repeated RTGS transfers from his Union Bank of India account to more than 30 bank accounts across multiple banks.

Between July 2024 and August 2025, Sharma transferred a total of ₹30 lakh in several instalments ranging from ₹20,000 to over ₹2 lakh. Despite repeated assurances, the promised insurance funds never materialised. When the fraudsters continued demanding more money under new pretexts, Sharma grew suspicious and contacted the National Cybercrime Helpline (1930) in August 2025.

He subsequently filed a formal complaint with the Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Police Station, submitting copies of forged letters, bank statements, WhatsApp chats, and emails on a pen drive as digital evidence. The police have registered a case under relevant sections of the BNS and the Information Technology Act for cheating, forgery, and impersonation.

Police have also alerted Union Bank of India and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU-IND) to trace the beneficiary accounts and freeze transactions linked to the scam.