Panchkula: 91-year-old retired colonel loses ₹2 lakh to cyber crooks posing as gas company officials

The complainant received a call from a man posing as an official of Adani Gas service, the caller allegedly told him that his gas bill had not been generated and asked him to send his meter reading

A 91-year-old retired colonel from Mansa Devi Complex has become the latest victim of cyber crooks who dupe people by posing as officials of gas distribution companies and trick them into clicking fake, malicious links or downloading files which leak their banking details.

A case has been registered under Sections 318 (4) (cheating), 316 (2) (criminal breach of trust), 336 (3)/338/340 (forgery), and 61 (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). (HT File)

The tricity has seen at least seven such cases in the last week alone.

In the latest instance, the complainant received a call from a man posing as an official of Adani Gas service. The caller allegedly told him that his gas bill had not been generated and asked him to send his meter reading.

The caller subsequently sent him a link and asked him to make a payment of ₹12 through an online portal. The complainant was allegedly guided into opening his Paytm wallet and clicking on various details, following which ₹74,992 was debited from his Punjab National Bank account.

The accused then allegedly claimed that the transaction had happened by mistake and promised to reverse the amount. Under this pretext, three more transactions of ₹1 lakh, ₹9,800 and ₹90,458 were allegedly made, taking the total loss to ₹2 lakh.