An Indian Army colonel posted at a defence facility in Pune was allegedly duped in a cyber fraud after clicking on a bogus traffic challan link, leading to an unauthorised overseas transaction of Rs 3.81 lakh, police said.
The incident surfaced after the officer lodged a complaint with local police, prompting the registration of a case and the launch of a cybercrime probe. Repotedly, according to the first information report, the colonel received a message late Monday night claiming that a traffic violation fine was pending against his vehicle. The message included a link that appeared to direct users to an official government payment portal.
Police said the officer opened the link the following morning and was shown a webpage demanding Rs 590 as an unpaid challan. Believing it to be legitimate, he entered his credit card details and shared a one-time password to complete the payment.
Minutes later, however, his card was charged 32,939 Hong Kong dollars — roughly Rs 3.81 lakh — which was transferred to a hotel account in Hong Kong, officials said. Realising he had been defrauded, the colonel immediately approached the police.
Cybercrime investigators said the method used in the case is consistent with a growing number of online scams in which fraudsters pose as government agencies or utility service providers. In such cases, victims are lured through messages warning of pending traffic fines, gas or electricity bills, and are redirected to fake websites designed to closely mimic official portals.
“These counterfeit platforms are used to harvest card details and OTPs, which are then exploited for unauthorised transactions,” a police official said.
Authorities have urged the public to remain vigilant and verify any payment requests only through official government websites or mobile applications. They reiterated that traffic challans and utility bills should not be paid using links received through unsolicited messages, emails or messaging apps.
