“Can I Pay 2.5 Lacs?”: How Ex India Cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar Escaped Financial Scam

Financial scams are becoming more and more common in today’s times. Stories of even the most high-profile personalities becoming victims of financial scams online have become common. Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar, who has turned into a full-time cricket pundit and commentator, shared an epic story of his encounter with a fraudulent person on the internet. Manjrekar, however, realised that something was wrong, and successfully evaded getting himself trapped in the scam. Later, he shared the entire story on X (formerly Twitter).

WhatsApp has become one of the most common tools for online scams. Sometimes, people posing as someone else seek financial assistance, on other occasions, they act as relatives and seek urgent monetary help. With Manjrekar, it was the latter case.

“Got WhatsApp msg from an acquaintance asking for 25K. Knew his no was hacked. So replied, how do you want me to pay, Gpay ok? Promptly a no was sent asking me to send a screenshot after payment. I replied, can I please pay you 2.5 lacs? No more messages after that,” Manjrekar said on social media.

Got WhatsApp msg from an acquaintance asking for 25K. Knew his no was hacked. So replied, how do you want me to pay, Gpay ok?

Promptly a no was sent asking me to send a screen shot after payment. I replied, can I please pay you 2.5 lacs? No more messages after that.

— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) February 11, 2025

A survey in 2024 said that nearly half of India has already experienced financial fraud in the last three years.

Forty-seven percent of Indians have experienced one or more financial fraud in the last three years, with UPI and credit card marked out as the most common ones, a survey said, as per news agency PTI.

The survey of 23,000 respondents from 302 districts by Local circles said over half of the people also experienced unauthorised charges levied on their credit cards by domestic and/or international merchants/websites.

The findings highlight an urgent need to put safeguards and create consumer awareness to prevent fraud, a statement said.

With PTI Inputs