Tamil Nadu woman loses Rs 4.2 lakh to EB phishing fraud

COIMBATORE:  Despite warnings and awareness campaigns by law enforcement and other departments, people continue to fall victims to online fraudsters. A 52-year-old woman lost ₹4.24 lakh on Friday after she operated her bank account in a phishing link.

According to police, G Krishnaveni (52), a resident of Alagesan road, was contacted by a person who claimed to be TNEB staff and sent her a link to pay electricity bill to avoid disconnection of service.  Thinking that it was an alert from the department, she sent ₹10 as trial payment and lost ₹4.24 lakh from her bank account. She lodged a complaint with Cyber crime police on Saturday.

TANGEDCO  recently cautioned consumers to not open any suspicious links. According to police, EB consumers are sent a SMS which states that electricity connection would be disconnection if bill details are not updated. The message would prompt the victim to call a mobile phone number. They then offer help to make payment. Once the targets share details of debit card, they steal money from the bank account.

This is the second fraud committed in the name of TNEB in the district in the last two months. On June 7, V Natarajan (83) of GN lost ₹8.7 lakh. A senior police officer advised people to confirm if their service providers have such services. The money could be traced and recovered if the incident was reported in time, the officer said.

TANGEDCO Chief Engineer (Coimbatore region) E David Jebasingh told TNIE that the department does not send such SMS alerts/links. Consumers must contact police or the department helpline at 94987-94987.