Fearing power cut may hamper daughter’s exam preparation, Mumbai man loses Rs 5 lakh to power bill scam

According to the Malad police, on Monday afternoon, he received a message on his mobile phone. The message informed him that if he fails to pay the electricity bill by 9.30 pm, his power supply will be stopped.

The complainant in the FIR wrote, “Fearing a power cut may hamper my daughter’s class 10 studies adversely, I contacted the sender, who identified himself as one Deepak Sharma from the Adani (power) office in Dindoshi.”

When the complainant asked what he needed to do to ensure power supply is not disrupted, the scammer asked him to download the Quick Support app (a screen mirroring app) and fill up all his banking details.

The complainant followed the scamster’s instructions and submitted all his details.

In the evening, the complainant received an alert regarding a banking transaction. When he checked with the bank, he was shocked to discover that a total of Rs 5.78 lakh had been debited from his account through five fraudulent transactions

The complainant then realised that he was cheated and approached the police on Tuesday to file a complaint.

“The Malad police are in the process of obtaining details of the bank accounts used by the fraudsters to receive the money,” said a police officer.