# 77-year-old loses Rs 4.98 lakh in fake SIR data fraud 2026-08-13T00:41:05+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 2 independent outlets A 77-year-old man from Wadgaon Budruk in Pune was duped of Rs 4.98 lakh after a fraudster posing as an Election Commission official claimed a mismatch in his SIR voter data. The caller sent APK files and asked for a Rs 5 payment to update details. The victim's money was debited in three transactions totalling Rs 4,98,008. His son blocked the accounts and reported the incident. The Telangana Cyber Security Bureau has warned citizens against such scams. Fraudsters send fake messages on WhatsApp about SIR application rejections, and demand a nominal Rs 5 payment to steal banking credentials. The bureau clarified that the SIR process is free and the Election Commission never charges a fee. ## Coverage - hindustantimes.com - indiatoday.in Tags: APK phishing, cyber fraud, Election Commission, Pune, senior citizen scam Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/77-year-old-loses-rs-4-98-lakh-in-fake-voter-data-fraud/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/77-year-old-loses-rs-4-98-lakh-in-fake-voter-data-fraud/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes.