He received a message about a traffic violation and clicked the payment link. Soon, ₹3.49 lakh was gone from his Pune bank account

A 37-year-old man from Pune’s Katraj allegedly lost ₹3.49 lakh from his bank account after clicking on a link sent to him for paying a traffic violation fine, PTI reported on Saturday.

The incident took place between October 16 and 26, when the man, identified as Shailendra Sanjay Tilekar, received a message claiming that he had violated traffic rules and needed to pay a fine.

"Complainant Shailendra Sanjay Tilekar received a link claiming he had violated traffic rules and was required to pay a fine. After clicking on the link, he received messages about multiple transactions being carried out from his mobile phone," a police official said.

Soon after clicking on the link, multiple transactions were allegedly carried out from his mobile phone. A total of ₹3,49,989 was withdrawn from his bank account without his permission, the official said.

Following the incident, an offence was registered at Bharatiya Vidyapeeth police station under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Information Technology Act.

Further investigation is underway, the official said.

₹1.2 lakh scholarship fraud case in Pune

In another incident in Pune, a case has been registered against several persons for allegedly obtaining ₹1.2 lakh under the Centre's Merit-cum-Means scholarship scheme for minority students by using fake documents and identities of educational institutions, a Pune police official said on Saturday.

The alleged fraud took place during the academic years 2021-22 and 2022-23, he added.

According to the complaint, the accused created fake user IDs on the National Scholarship Portal (NSP) using the names of a private Industrial Training Institute (ITI) in Kalamb in Indapur taluka and a government ITI in Karad in Satara district.

"They allegedly posed as the heads of the institutions and institute nodal officers and submitted four scholarship applications in the names of fictitious students. An amount of Rs 30,000 was credited for each student to different bank accounts, taking the total amount to Rs 1.2 lakh," the official said.

A case has been registered at Chaturshringi police station under sections 420 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code, he added.