Bengaluru man falls for ‘Kumbh Mela crisis’ scam, loses ₹1.4 lakh to fake BBMP engineer: Report

The victim, a 54-year-old private firm employee from Banashankari, was drawn into the fraud after his friend received a call from an unknown number on March 5.

A Bengaluru resident lost ₹1.4 lakh to a scammer who posed as a BBMP engineer in distress, claiming to be stranded at the Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj.

The police are now tracing the scammer based on the transaction details. (Representative Image)

According to a report by Times of India, the victim, a 54-year-old private firm employee from Banashankari, was drawn into the fraud after his friend received a call from an unknown number on March 5.

The caller, speaking in Hindi, introduced himself as Venkatesh, a BBMP engineer, and said he was stuck in Prayagraj with his family after missing a flight back to Bengaluru, the report added.

Since his friend struggled to understand Hindi, the victim took over the call. The caller insisted that he urgently needed money to book new flight tickets and promised to repay the amount upon returning to Bengaluru.

Trusting the claim, and after confirming with his friend that he knew a BBMP engineer by that name, the victim transferred ₹1.4 lakh in two transactions via a digital payment app.

When attempts to contact the caller the next day went unanswered, suspicion grew. After several days of silence, the victim realised he had been duped and filed a police complaint.

According to the publication, a senior officer investigating the case noted that the victim should have been cautious when the caller, allegedly a BBMP official, spoke in Hindi instead of Kannada. The police are now tracing the scammer based on the transaction details.

In January, a 70-year-old Bengaluru resident became a victim of a sophisticated cyber scam, losing nearly ₹89 lakh over an 11-day ordeal that saw him manipulated, threatened, and defrauded by criminals posing as law enforcement officials.

The incident came to light after the victim, a retired banker living in Nagarabhavi, filed a police complaint earlier this month.