PremiumA 48-year-old man from Nagpur in Maharashtra lost ₹2.14 lakh after he clicked on the online link sent by fraudsters posing as electricity distribution company officials
A 48-year-old man was defrauded of ₹2.14 lakh in the pretext of updating his electricity bill. Police reported on Tuesday that a man from Nagpur in Maharashtra lost the amount after clicking on the online link sent by con artists impersonating electricity distribution company official and asking him to "update" his electricity bill.
The victim received text messages on his phone warning him that if he did not update and settle the "pending" bills by April of this year, his electricity connection would be cut off.
When he called on the contact number believing that the message came from the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL), the person from the other side asked him to install a remote access app on his mobile phone, a police official said.
"After he downloaded the app, the fraudsters asked him to make the payment. Assuming that he was updating the bill, the man clicked on the link. Within seconds, an amount of ₹2.14 lakh got transferred from his bank account to another account," the official said.
A case was registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for cheating and under provisions of the Information Technology Act.
On Monday, a 56-year-old teacher of a Zilla Parishad school was duped of ₹2.71 lakh by an online fraudster in Maharashtra's Latur district.
According to the police, the complainant had on October 10 received a call from an unidentified man who claimed to be a bank official. The man informed the victim that he could help him activate his credit card and sought details such as bank account number, OTP among other information and then siphoned off ₹2.71 crore, the official said.
(With inputs from agencies)