Panchkula: Retired colonel loses ₹1.49 lakh to electricity bill payment scam
Complainant Gurkirat Singh, 62, a resident of Sector-2, Panchkula, said that on October 16, he got a message on his phone that his electricity bill of the last month had not been paid. The message also stated that if he did not pay the bill immediately, his connection will be disconnected by midnight.
Blindly acting upon a message from an untrustworthy source cost a retired army colonel dear as he ended up losing ₹1.49 lakh from his bank account.
Complainant Gurkirat Singh, 62, a resident of Sector-2, Panchkula, said that on October 16, he got a message on his phone that his electricity bill of the last month had not been paid. The message also stated that if he did not pay the bill immediately, his connection will be disconnected by midnight.
There was also a mobile number where he was asked to call in case of any queries.
Perplexed, the senior citizen called the number, where a person introduced himself as an UHBVN employee. “I told him that I had already paid the bill. On this, he asked me to download the Quicker App Support. Following this, he asked me for my bank account details, which I provided. After some time, ₹30,000 and ₹99,000 were deducted from my account,” said the retired colonel.
After initial inquiry, police registered a case under Sections 419 (cheating by personation) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code at Sector 5 police station on Monday.
Beware
Panchkula police have been repeatedly issuing guidelines on cyber crime. Residents are advised to not entertain anonymous callers, avoid clicking on unknown calls, not share bank details with anyone over phone, and never download any app recommended by anonymous callers.
