Pune: An elderly Army Colonel (retired) and his wife from Ghorpadi lost Rs37.58 lakh between September 26 and 27 to cybercrooks after the suspects offered them help to open a fixed deposit account posing as representatives of a public sector bank on BT Kawade Road. The Mundhwa police registered an FIR in this connection on Thursday after verifying the victims' complaint application submitted last week.

"The victim (65) and his wife have separate accounts in the bank," senior inspector Nilkanth Jagtap said. "The crooks called the Colonel (retired) on September 26, claiming that they were executives of the bank and offered help after he told them that he and his wife wanted to open FD (fixed deposit) accounts. The crooks told him that he or his wife need not visit the bank in person because they were senior citizens.

The suspects said they would process the account opening online. The crooks then sent an embedded link to the victim and his wife, asked them to click on it and fill up an online form," Jagtap said. "The form sought details of the couple's bank accounts.

It also sought temporary control of their cellphones," he said "The unsuspecting couple clicked on the link. It gave the crooks remote access to their cellphones. The suspects filled up their bank details and siphoned off money from two accounts.

We have sought details of the bank accounts to which the money has gone for further probe," Jagtap said..