Background: Autoimmune pancreatitis is a sclerosing disorder characterized by autoimmune serology and multiple organ involvements, considered a disease of the western world, but now its incidence in India is rising because of increased awareness and development of clinicoradiological criteria to diagnose it. Case summary: A 60-years-old lady presented with pain abdomen, loss of weight, yellowish discolouration of skin and eyes. Her biochemical investigations revealed deranged liver function tests and raised erythrocyte sedimentation rate. Subsequent imaging showed bulky pancreatic head and an ill-defined hypodense mass lesion in it causing bi-lobar intrahepatic biliary dilatation. Based on the pre-operative diagnosis of carcinoma head of pancreas she underwent Whipple's procedure. To our surprise, histopathological examination confirmed this as autoimmune pancreatitis. Conclusion: Inflammatory pseudotumors have frequently been mistaken as pancreatic tumours and resected surgically. Since autoimmune pancreatitis responds dramatically to steroid therapy, accurate diagnosis can avoid major surgical undertakings like pancreatic resection.