Pune: A 71-year-old retired teacher from Pune has been defrauded of ₹20 lakh by a scammer who posed as a police officer and falsely accused her of involvement in money laundering for former minister Hasan Mushrif.

Usha Murlidhar Vyas, a resident of Prime Residency in Hadapsar, received a call on May 31 from an individual claiming to be Police Sub-Inspector (PSI) Narendra Gupta.

The caller, speaking in Hindi, informed Vyas that a case had been registered against her for allegedly laundering money for Hasan Mushrif. The scammer also accused her of financing the purchase of illegal weapons and participating in drug trafficking.

The fraudster threatened Vyas with arrest and the cancellation of her pension, claiming that she would be detained in Mumbai. To lend credibility to the threat, the scammer sent her a PDF document purportedly showing the charges filed against her.

Frightened and confused, Vyas asked how she could avoid arrest. The scammer instructed her to transfer all the money in her account to theirs, promising that the amount would be returned after verification.

Fearing for her safety and pension, Vyas transferred ₹20 lakh to the account provided by the scammer over the course of three days, from May 31 to June 3.

During this time, she was unable to contact anyone else and received no calls except from the scammer. After making the transfers, she attempted to reach the scammer on two different phone numbers, but her calls went unanswered.

Realizing she had been scammed, Vyas finally lodged an online complaint with the police on June 4. The Hadapsar police have registered a case against the suspect, who falsely claimed to be PSI Narendra Gupta, and are currently investigating the incident.

The police have urged the public to be cautious of such fraudulent schemes and to verify the identity of anyone making such claims before taking any action.