A 40-year-old milk vendor from Ahmedabad was defrauded of ₹2.22lakh by fraudsters posing as officials from Bank of India. The incident took place on March 12 when the complainant, Ajay Mohanbhai Bharwad, received a fraudulent call when he was home in Shaktinagar, Vasna.

As per the police complaint filed with Vasna police station, Bharwad stated that he received a call from an unknown number around 3.30 pm. The caller introduced himself as a Bank of India official and warned him that his account would be closed if he failed to verify his details.

Trusting the caller, Bharwad kept the line open as instructed. Shortly thereafter, he received a link via WhatsApp from another number. Distracted by his routine chores of attending to his cattle, Bharwad opened the link and entered his Aadhaar details without thoroughly checking the message.

Later that evening, upon checking his phone, Bharwad discovered three transaction alerts amounting to ₹2.22lakh debited from his bank account. The fraudulent transactions included withdrawals of ₹1.48lakh, ₹49,000, and ₹25,000 respectively.

Panicked, Bharwad sought help from his friend and immediately reported the cyber fraud through the National Cyber Crime reporting portal and helpline 1930. Vasna police have registered a case and started an investigation.