MUMBAI: Despite the electricity board and cyber police’s appeals to people to be alert about cyber frauds who in the garb of “pending power bills”, three people — a senior corporate executive, a teacher and a businessman -- have fallen prey and lost Rs 7.5 lakh in the last 24 hours.
Mumbai Police registered more than two dozen such offences of cheating in the past month pertaining to the electricity board.
In the first case, Sudharshan Khandekar, a deputy general manager of RCF on June 11, got a text message on his phone that his electricity connection would be disconnected as his previous month's bill was not “updated”. When he called up the number, the person said that last month’s bill amount was pending. The person asked Khandekar to download an app-and pay at least Rs 10 online. “When he opened his net banking which was linked to his SBI bank account, he got a message from the bank that Rs 5 lakh had been debited. Khandekarcalled up the caller who said it was a mistake and the money would be reimbursed, but later the phone was switched off, said an officer.
Similarly, a school teacher, Gangadhar Mahale, from Nehru Nagar, was duped of Rs 23,552. On Monday, Mahale got a message that his electricity would be disconnected and hence he called up the sender who asked him to download the 'Any Desk’ app. Soon, Rs 23,552 was deducted from his account. The Nehru Nagar police have registered an offence.
A Nepeansea Road resident Nikhil Shashtri responded to a fraudster’s text message and he was asked to download `Quick Support app and thus he became poorer by Rs 2.35 lakh.
Officials of Malabar Hill police station said they have registered a cheating, forgery and a search for the fraudster has been launched.
