Fraudsters pose as civic officials to dupe woman of Rs3.68 lakh over water bill

Pune: Cybercrooks posed as civic officials and allegedly duped a 59-year-old medical practitioner from Vimannagar of Rs3.68 lakh by claiming her water bill wasn’t updated.It happened in April last year. The woman had filed an online complaint with Pune cyber police, following which a case was registered with Airport police on Thursday after a preliminary inquiry.An officer from Airport police said, “She received a call on April 29, 2025, from an unknown person claiming to be from Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). The caller said her water bill was showing as pending and claimed the connection would be disconnected if she did not pay immediately.”Later that day, she received another call from a different cellphone number. The caller repeated the threat and sent her a link to make a payment of Rs10 to update the bill. The woman attempted to make the payment, but the transaction failed.“The caller then asked her for details of her bank accounts and debit and credit cards, claiming he would complete the payment. Soon after, she began receiving messages of transactions made using her credit card. When she questioned the caller, he allegedly told her that her two-wheeler bill also needed to be updated and offered to do it for her. She became suspicious and disconnected the call. On checking her account, she found transactions totalling Rs3.86 lakh had been carried out,” the officer added.