Nagpur: A 75-year-old architect from Nagpur’s Dhantoli area was allegedly cheated of ₹1.30 lakh by cyber fraudsters who lured him with a fake Hotstar channel upgrade message and later hacked his phone to siphon money from his bank account.

According to Dhantoli Police, the victim, Vinod Ramdas Ganvir (75), a resident of Kamalprabha Apartment near Suretech Hospital, received a message on the night of June 23, 2026, claiming that his Hotstar subscription required an upgrade.

Believing the message to be genuine, Ganvir initially made a payment of ₹1,099 using his credit card. However, when the subscription was not upgraded, he searched online for a customer care number and contacted +91-1408369490.

The person who answered the call claimed to be a customer support executive and assured the victim that the earlier payment would be refunded. The fraudster then instructed him to make another payment through Paytm.

During the process, the accused allegedly gained unauthorized access to the victim’s phone and hacked it. Soon afterwards, ₹1,30,560 was fraudulently transferred from the victim’s bank account to another account without his knowledge.

After realizing he had been cheated, Ganvir approached the police and lodged a complaint.

Based on his complaint, Dhantoli Police have registered Crime No. 155/2026 against an unknown accused under Sections 318(2) and 319(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), along with Sections 66(C) and 66(D) of the Information Technology Act, and Section 420 (cheating). The investigation is underway to trace the cyber fraudsters.

Police have once again urged citizens not to rely on customer care numbers found through internet searches and to verify support contacts only through official websites or applications. They also advised people never to share banking details or make payments at the direction of unknown callers.