Actor Rakesh Bedi and wife retrieve funds lost to cyber fraudsters

Mumbai: Renowned film and television actor Rakesh Bedi, along with his wife Aradhana, who fell victim to cyber fraud, successfully recovered their lost funds within a week, thanks to swift action by the Mumbai Police.

Aradhana received a call on May 3 from an unknown number, where the caller claimed that she had mistakenly transferred Rs 4.98 lakh to his account and offered to return the amount. However, Aradhana, suspecting foul play, ended the call without disclosing any details.

To her dismay, upon checking her bank balance, Aradhana discovered that Rs 4.98 lakh had indeed been debited from her account. Without delay, she informed her husband, and together they reported the incident to the Oshiwara police.

The police promptly initiated an investigation, tracing the fraudulent transactions to an eWallet linked to a third-party app. Acting swiftly, they contacted the app's nodal officer, directing them to freeze the funds and return them to the source account, citing fraudulent activity. The case details were also forwarded to the app's administrator.

Thanks to the timely intervention of the police, the entirety of the misappropriated funds was successfully reverted to Bedi's account, stated Mohan Patil, senior inspector of the Oshiwara police station.

This incident marks the second time this year that the actor has been targeted by cyber fraudsters. In January, Bedi lost Rs 85,000 to an unidentified scammer who posed as an Army officer offering to sell his flat in Pune.