Man duped of Rs 3.47 lakh by cyber fraudster posing as electricity department employee

The victim, a resident of Chembur, was tricked into revealing his Paytm and Google Pay details on a dubious app a fraudster had told him to download.

The Chembur police registered a First Information Report (FIR) in the case on January 16. (File photo)

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A 57-year-old businessman fell prey to an alleged cyberfraud when he acknowledged a ‘non-payment of bill’ message on his phone purportedly sent by the electricity department, said the police.

The victim, a resident of Chembur, was tricked into revealing his Paytm and Google Pay details on a dubious app a fraudster had told him to download. The fraudster then proceeded to siphon off Rs 3.47 lakh from his bank account, said the police.

The Chembur police registered a First Information Report (FIR) on January 16. The complainant, Rajeev Pandey, told the police the incident took place on January 12 when he called an unknown number that had sent him a message alerting him the electricity to his residence would be cut since last month’s bill was still due.

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The fraudster, claiming to speak from Adani Electricity, told Pandey his payment for December was pending. He then asked Pandey to download the ‘QR App’ and make a nominal payment of Rs 1. Pandey proceeded to do as the accused asked and tried paying the amount on the app almost four times with two of his UPI apps. Eventually, the fraudster withdrew Rs 3,47,803 from the victim’s account, the police said.

The Chembur police registered a case under Indian Penal Code sections 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating) and IT Act sections 66 C, (identity theft) and 66 D (cheating by personation by using computer resource).

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