Bengaluru: Man duped of Rs 22 lakh in fake Kerala lottery scam

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, Aug 22, 2026: A 64-year-old resident of JC Nagar lost Rs 22 lakh after falling victim to a fake Kerala lottery scam, police said.

The victim came across an advertisement for a “Kerala Megha Lottery” on Facebook. Believing it to be genuine, the retired man purchased five lottery tickets by paying Rs 200 for each ticket online.

He later received calls from four individuals claiming to represent the lottery agency. They informed him that he had won Rs 12 lakh in one of the lotteries but said he needed to complete a few formalities before receiving the prize money.

Over the next few days, the victim was asked to transfer money under various pretexts, including tax, processing fees, GST, No Objection Certificate (NOC) charges, gateway tax, bank diversion charges, RBI holding charges, forex tax, security deposit, insurance and cheque clearance charges.

Unaware that he was being duped, the victim transferred a total of Rs 22 lakh between June 1 and June 23. He then waited for the promised lottery winnings and refunds of the charges that the suspects had claimed were refundable.

When the callers stopped responding, the victim approached the police and realised that he had been cheated.

West Cybercrime Police have registered a case and launched an investigation, police said.