Chandigarh man loses ₹8 lakh in fake PNG connection KYC scam

According to a complaint registered at Sector 17 cyber police station, the victim had applied for a piped natural gas (PNG) connection from Adani Gas around three months ago

A 69-year-old resident of Sector 33D has allegedly lost nearly ₹7.94 lakh after cyber fraudsters posing as representatives of Adani Gas tricked him into downloading a malicious application that compromised his mobile phone and banking details, police said.

An FIR has been registered under sections 318(4), 319(2), 336(3), 338, 340(2), and 61(2) of BNS. (HT Photo for representation)

According to a complaint registered at Sector 17 cyber police station, the victim had applied for a piped natural gas (PNG) connection from Adani Gas around three months ago. On Tuesday morning, he received a phone call from an unknown number who claimed to be an employee of the gas company. He allegedly informed the victim that his bank account needed to be linked to the company’s system before the connection could be activated.

The caller asked the victim to pay an online verification fee of ₹10 and sent him an APK file via WhatsApp titled ‘Adani Gas Bill Update’. Believing the request to be genuine, the victim downloaded the application, granting it further permissions. He was then asked to share the 16-digit number of his HDFC Bank debit card along with other banking details.

Following the caller’s instructions, the victim attempted to make the ₹10 payment through Google Pay. When the transaction failed, he was persuaded to repeat the process using another bank account.

Soon afterwards, the fraudster claimed that the registration process had been completed and that a one-time password (OTP) would be sent shortly. Around the same time, the victim’s mobile phone became unresponsive and repeatedly restarted, prompting him to suspect something was amiss.

Police said the fraudsters had allegedly gained remote access to the victim’s phone through the malicious APK file and siphoned off nearly ₹8,00,000 from his HDFC Bank and Punjab National Bank accounts. An FIR has been registered under sections 318(4), 319(2), 336(3), 338, 340(2), and 61(2) of BNS.