Pune: A 57-year-old shopkeeper from Tilak Road lodged a complaint with the Vishrambaug police, stating that online fraudsters cheated him of Rs 2.76 lakh after sending him a fake RTO challan message in Dec 2025.Inspector Arun Ghodke of the Vishrambaug police told TOI, “The victim has been a resident of Sadashiv Peth and ran a shop on Tilak Road. He had submitted a complaint application to the Pune cybercrime police station. After verification, a formal FIR was registered on Saturday.”According to the police, the victim received a text message on his cellphone titled ‘RTO Challan’. When he opened the message, he found a link attached to it.“Believing it to be a link to pay a traffic fine online, he clicked on it. A form then appeared on his screen. He filled out the form including his banking credentials,” Ghodke said.He added that the link actually installed remote access software on the victim’s cellphone after he clicked on it and selected the ‘Allow’ option.“The software gave the fraudsters control over his phone. By filling out the online form, the victim unknowingly shared his online banking credentials,” Ghodke said. The fraudsters siphoned off Rs 2.76 lakh from his bank account, he added.Ghodke further said since the suspects had control of the victim’s mobile phone, they were able to use the PIN numbers and also delete the money transfer messages.
