Pune, 11 September 2025: The Income Tax Department has uncovered a massive Rs 500 crore income tax refund scam in Pune, involving a gang of local businessmen posing as tax refund experts. The Directorate of Income Tax (Investigation) is now probing the case, which involves over 10,000 fraudulent ITR filings over the past five years.

The scam primarily targeted salaried employees from private and multinational companies, exploiting loopholes in the tax filing system to secure inflated refunds. Authorities are now working to trace several taxpayers whose information may have been misused.

The fraudulent activity came to light amid the ongoing income tax return filing season, with the deadline for salaried individuals set for September 15, 2025. As the last date approaches, the scam has raised concerns over data misuse and tax fraud at scale.

Initial findings suggest that the gang had been operating undetected for years, misleading taxpayers and submitting forged documents to claim high-value refunds.

This incident adds to a growing list of tax fraud cases across the country, underlining the need for stricter scrutiny in the ITR filing process.