A 71-year-old doctor lost ₹5 crore in a bogus customer care scam

A 71-year-old doctor from Indiranagar lost ₹5 crore after allegedly falling victim to a fake customer care scam while trying to return a shirt he ordered online

According to a complaint lodged with the East CEN crime police, the incident took place on Wednesday around 4.30 pm. The complainant said he searched for a customer care number on Google to process the return of the shirt.

Contacted the mobile number. After the call was dropped twice, the man, who identified himself as Mahindra Pandit, allegedly answered the third call and asked the doctor to provide his debit card details.

The suspect later contacted him via WhatsApp and allegedly instructed him to perform certain actions. The doctor unknowingly followed the instructions, after which the fraudster allegedly gained control of his mobile phone.

Within about five minutes, seven transactions totaling ₹5,000 were made from his account. The victim reportedly received an OTP alert for the transactions but could not intervene as his phone was allegedly under the fraudster’s control.

East CEN crime police registered a case and started investigation to identify the accused and trace the money transferred from the victim’s account.

Published – 05 Sep 2026 23:32 IST