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‘Who has ₹32 crore lying around?’: Bengaluru woman’s massive scam loss triggers wild reactions
While the case has shocked cybersecurity officials, the internet is hung up on something else entirely, the mind-boggling amount she had access to.
Bengaluru residents are stunned and the internet is in absolute disbelief after a 57-year-old senior IT professional lost an eye-watering ₹31.83 crore to a “digital arrest” scam.
But what has captured social media even more than the crime is the one question everyone seems obsessed with, “Who even has ₹32 crore lying around?”
The woman, an Indiranagar resident and one of Karnataka’s biggest-ever cybercrime victims, was manipulated for six straight months by scammers who posed as DHL executives and CBI officers.
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Her ordeal began on September 15, 2024 when she received a call claiming a parcel in her name had been seized in Mumbai, allegedly containing illicit items like passports, credit cards and narcotics. When she denied involvement, the caller escalated the fear, passing her to a man posing as a CBI officer who insisted she was now a suspect in a criminal probe.
According to the Deccan Herald report, the scammers warned her not to approach the police or hire a lawyer, saying “real offenders” were monitoring her and could harm her family. With her son’s wedding around the corner, she panicked, and complied.
For months, she was kept under a fake “house arrest,” forced to stay on Skype with her camera on, monitored by men identifying themselves as CBI officers Pradeep Singh and Rahul Yadav. Over this period, she transferred ₹31.83 crore to accounts controlled by the fraudsters before they suddenly disappeared.
How did social media users react?
But while the case has shocked cybersecurity officials, the internet is hung up on something else entirely, the mind-boggling amount she had access to. Social media reactions ranged from sarcastic disbelief to existential career crises.
Users repeatedly questioning how an individual could even have ₹32 crore at their disposal. Many wondered aloud, “Who are these people with so much money lying in their bank accounts?” while others joked that they were clearly in the wrong profession, saying they needed “a job like the culprit or the victim.”
Some mocked the situation, asking, “Which techie has ₹32 crore?” and criticising the idea of a senior IT professional falling for such a scam. Others expressed sheer amazement at her earnings, asking, “How do they even make this much money?” The reactions ranged from sarcastic to stunned, but all revolved around the same jaw-dropping figure.
(Also Read: Bengaluru woman loses ₹31.83 crore to elaborate digital scam over six months: Report)
