3 minutes of readingPuneFebruary 6, 2026 06:23 pm IST
A 45-year-old housewife from Pune was scammed of Rs 6.82 lakh by cyber scammers after placing a ‘cash on delivery’ order for a dress priced at Rs 1,700 on a shopping portal, police said.
The woman, a resident of an apartment near Parihar Chowk in Aundh, lodged a first information report (FIR) at Chatushrungi police station on February 3.
According to the FIR, the victim had selected a dress from the website “Biba.in” on December 24, 2025 and opted for cash on delivery mode. The next day, she received a call from a person claiming to be Biba’s employee, who told her that the delivery address was listed as Nashik and the dress could not be delivered there.
The caller then sent her a QR code and asked her to make an online payment, assuring her that the dress would be delivered through another “delivery partner”, the FIR stated.
Accordingly, the victim transferred Rs 1,700.05 online. However, within 15 minutes, the caller contacted her again, claiming she had made an incorrect payment. He told him that he was supposed to pay Rs 1,700.50, but had instead transferred Rs 1,700.05 and asked him to resend the correct amount, assuring him that the previous payment would be refunded.
The woman then transferred Rs 1,700.50 through a UPI transaction. He again received a call informing him that the payment had not been received and was asked to make the payment once again, with assurances that all previous payments would be returned to him.
According to the FIR, the fraudsters continued calling the victim and persuaded her to transfer money to different bank accounts as per their instructions.
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Between December 25 and 26, the victim transferred Rs 6,82,024.05 (six lakh eighty-two thousand twenty-four rupees and five paise) through 10 online transactions. These included five transactions of more than Rs 90,000 each. Despite this, the dress was never delivered.
On December 27, the victim again received a call from a man posing as an employee of the Biba company, who asked him to transfer Rs 2 lakh more, claiming that he would be refunded the money already paid.
This time, the woman became suspicious and discussed the matter with her husband, who told her that he had been cheating on her. He subsequently filed a complaint with the Cyber Police Station of Pune City Police on December 28, 2025. After verification, an FIR was registered on February 3.
The police have booked unidentified persons under sections 318(4) and 319(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) along with relevant sections of the Information Technology Act.
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The victim’s statement has been recorded and an investigation is underway. Police are investigating mobile phone numbers and bank accounts used by scammers.
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