Surat: Electricity bills power Rs 4 crore e-fraud

SURAT: City police busted a well-organized nationwide cyber fraud racket where electricity bills worth Rs 3.67 crore paid in cash by several customers of Torrent Power and state-run Dakshin Gujarat Vij Company Ltd (DGVCL) were usurped and the bill amount fraudulently paid using credit cards of Mumbai-headquartered RBL Bank customers.

Among those arrested include a tele-calling racketeer from Jamtara of Jharkhand that’s infamous for such cyber bank frauds. The racket was busted by Katargam police jointly with the cyber-crime police station.
Police arrested Virbhadrasinh Jhala (29), Mehul Lakadiya (28), Yash Bhuptani (24), Manish Bhuva (34), Milan Chovatiya (34) and Jitendra alias Rahul Mandal. Jhala is from Bhavnagar and Mandal is from Jamtara while other accused are residents of the Surat city.
Police investigation revealed that Bhuva worked with agents who provided service of electricity bill payment to various business establishments and individuals. He used to receive copies of electricity bills and cash. Instead of directly paying the bill, Bhuva sent the bill copies to Chovatiya and Bhuptani who sent them to Jhala over WhatsApp and Telegram.
Jhala then sent the bill copies to Mandal. After receiving the bills, Mandal filled the details for online payment through any bill payment platform. Mandal or his associates then made calls to RBL Bank credit card holders and collected the card holder’s details like card number and birthdate.
“Punching these details for payment, Mandal generated OTP for payment. The OTP went to the card holder’s registered mobile that Mandal collected and entered to complete the payment,” said a police officer.
After the bills were paid, Jitendra sent the screenshot of payment to Virbhadrasinh. Once Virbhadrasinh verified them, Mehul paid Jitendra his share from the cash collected from the actual electricity customers.
“The racket was so well planned that field work was done in Gujarat and the cyber fraud was executed from Jamtara. It would have never been detected but due to in depth investigation at initial stage police busted it,” said city police commissioner Ajay Tomar. The accused were booked under Indian Penal Code for criminal breach of trust, cheating and sections of the Information Technology Act.