Nagpur: A 73-year-old woman from Dhantoli was allegedly duped of ₹4.5 lakh after a cyber fraudster posing as an Election Commission official contacted her on WhatsApp on the pretext of renewing her voter ID and correcting her name, police said.

The victim, identified as Saroj Dilip Joshi (73), a resident of Dhantoli, approached the Cyber Police after discovering that ₹4.5 lakh had been transferred without her authorisation from her Kotak Mahindra Bank account.

According to the complaint, the fraudster introduced himself as ‘Chandrashekhar’, allegedly an Election Commission official, and contacted Joshi through WhatsApp. The accused reportedly sent her a fake link on the pretext of updating her voter identity card and correcting details in her name.

The accused also allegedly called her through WhatsApp from a mobile number and persuaded her to enter personal information through the fraudulent link.

Joshi told police that she had not shared her OTP with anyone. Despite this, ₹4.5 lakh was allegedly transferred from her Kotak Mahindra Bank account to an account maintained with a small finance bank on July 20.

After realising that the transaction was unauthorised, she approached the Cyber Police.

Based on her complaint, Cyber Police registered FIR No. 100/2026 under Sections 318(4), 319(2), 336(2), 338 and 340(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with Section 66(5) of the Information Technology Act.

Police have launched an investigation to identify the accused and trace the diverted funds.

The incident highlights the growing risk of fraudsters using fake government-official identities and WhatsApp links to obtain sensitive information from unsuspecting citizens.