Mumbai Home Buyers Lose ₹1.8 Crore in Affordable Housing Scam

Mumbai, India:  Eleven home buyers, including three senior citizens, were duped of ₹1.8 crore in a housing scam orchestrated by a woman posing as a facilitator for affordable housing. The victims were falsely promised flats under road cutting projects or the 10% MHADA lottery quota.

The Kalachowkie police have booked the woman and 13 accomplices, including the individual who received the funds, under cheating and criminal breach of trust. To gain credibility, the accused introduced her driver as a senior MHADA official, misleading buyers into believing their applications were being processed.

A retired MTNL employee, one of the victims, revealed that he was lured in 2021 and paid ₹30.42 lakh into different bank accounts. The woman even showed him a flat in Sewri and handed over keys, but never provided official allotment documents. In late 2023, the victim discovered 10 more people had been scammed. When he demanded a refund, the woman initially returned ₹2.22 lakh but later became untraceable.

The victims filed a police complaint in December 2024, and authorities are now investigating the fraud.