E-Paper
Cyber fraudsters dupe man of ₹5.5 lakh
On the pretext of updating his power bills, criminals asked him to download app and click on links and eventually siphoned off lakhs from his account
Cyber fraudsters duped a man of ₹5.5 lakh on the pretext of asking him to update his electricity bills or else face power disconnection.
As per the complainant, he was asked to click on a link sent by the cyber crooks, download an app, and he lost a total of ₹5,54, 806 in multiple transactions done through internet banking.
The incident happened on August 26 an d 27 and the FIR was registered on Friday after the victim gave a written complaint at cyber police station.
The victim, Manoj Kumar,a resident of RDSO colony, Manak Nagar, in his complaint to police said that on August 26 evening, he received a WhatsApp message that read, “your electricity would be disconnected tonight at 11:35pm because your last month bill was not updated. Call us at 9693737026 immediately and send your receipt screen shot at the number 8007460242. Thank you.”
“Later at night, I tried to call the number, but it was switched off. So, I shared UPPCL receipt on the other WhatsApp number shared in the message. However, the next day on August 27, I got a call from the number and the person asked me to update the bill and later sent me a link on my WhatsApp and asked me to open it, and download an app using it,” the victim said in the complaint.
The victim further said, “I filled my name, mobile number and consumer’s number in the app. It showed the deduction of ₹3 which I tried to pay, but was unsuccessful. Further, I tried to make payment through card, and it was again unsuccessful. To this the fraudster made a video call and asked me to share picture of my bank passbooks.”
The victim in his complaint said that ₹5,000 was deducted from his bank account through Internet banking, about which he immediately informed the bank. However, they paid no heed despite him informing them that he seems to have been a victim of cyber fraud.
“They told me to inform cyber police regarding the matter first. When I asked them to block my ATM card, they asked me to write a letter to the bank, which I did, and my ATM card was blocked eventually. However, till then I had lost the money,” he stated in his FIR.
He further informed the police that he lost a total of ₹5,54, 806 lakhs in as many as 11 transactions all of which were through Internet banking.
