It started with a phone call that any small NGO would dream of.
“Sir, we’ve been observing your NGO’s work, and we’re impressed. We have a donor who is willing to contribute ₹20 crore to your cause.”
The founder, let’s call him Kunal, paused. ₹20 crore? Was this real?
“Can we meet? We’d like to do this formally.”
And that’s exactly how the trap was laid.
A Too-Good-To-Be-True Offer
Kunal had been running his NGO for over a decade. Funding was always a struggle, and every penny counted.
So when this group of ‘representatives’ flew down to Bhopal and even arranged a meeting in Indore to discuss the ‘terms of donation,’ it didn’t seem odd.
They carried documents, had official-looking emails, and even small talk about CSR rules.
Over coffee at a modest hotel café, one of the men, Rakesh, 51, an art gallery owner, smiled and slid a file across the table.
“Everything is in here. Just a few processing fees. Standard stuff. Once those are cleared, the donation will be transferred within 48 hours.”
They asked for ₹3 lakh initially. Then another ₹5 lakh. Then more, ₹18 lakh in total, each under a different pretext: clearance charges, notarizations, “government approvals.”
Kunal, although a bit skeptical, believed it was the cost of changing lives.
What came after was silence.
Just the sinking feeling of having been played.
Behind the Curtain of Kindness
Bhopal’s Cyber Crime Branch took the complaint seriously. It wasn’t just a one-off scam—it was a playbook.
Rakesh Yadav, the smooth-talking gallery owner from Indore, was the frontman.
He had the appearance of credibility, the practiced speech, the confident nods.
Behind him were Dileep Sujane, 29, from Betul, working a private job but moonlighting in deception, and Ajay Yadav, just 25, a student from Hoshangabad preparing for competitive exams.
It almost sounds like the plot of a low-budget con film: a small team pretending to be well-wishers for NGOs, luring them with hope, and walking away with their savings.
Except this was very real.
When police raided the trio, they recovered multiple phones used to coordinate the scam.
And now, the search continues for others linked to the racket. Because where there’s one NGO victim, there are likely more.
Why This Matters
This wasn’t just about losing ₹18 lakh. This was about breaking the spirit of an organization trying to do good in the world. That kind of trust, once broken, doesn’t repair easily.
It’s also a warning. If you run an NGO or any institution that receives donations, learn from Kunal’s experience:
- Verify everything. A donation offer without background checks is a red flag.
- Don’t pay to receive money. If someone’s giving you funds, they shouldn’t need your money first.
- Watch out for too much formality in informal settings. Real donors are transparent, not theatrical.
At the end of the day, fraud wears many faces. Sometimes it walks in through the front door, wearing a smile and holding a donation agreement.
