MNGL bill and senior citizens: cyber scammers’ new cash cow

An 82-year-old retired engineer responded to a similar message about a pending MNGL bill and was manipulated into downloading an application on his phone. He ended up losing Rs 7.6 lakh.

Cyber investigators in Pune have seen a sudden surge in cases in which senior citizens have fallen victim to cyber criminals using WhatsApp messages on the pretext of pending MNGL bills. Since May this year, Pune City Cyber crime police station has registered 16 cases in which victims have lost a total of Rs 1.06 crore. “The modus operandi of these cases is very similar electricity bill frauds of which a surge was reported in 2022-23. Most people realise that these are fraud messages and ignore them. But unfortunately some elderly people fall prey to these scams.” said an officer.

Senior Inspector Suresh Shinde, in-charge of Cyber crime police station said, “These messages ask victims to contact a number. The person who receives the call manipulates the victims into downloading a remote access application. Using this application and manipulating the victims into sharing some more information, Cyber criminals siphon funds from their bank accounts. In some of the cases, the Cyber criminals have manipulated the victims into sharing information of all their bank accounts and manipulating the victim into sharing One TIme Passwords to complete transactions. Once we observed a pattern of Cyber criminals using the name of MNGL, we informed the senior management at the MNGL and they have issued advisories.”

A senior MNGL officer said, “Since the fraud cases were reported, we have issued multiple advisories. Every communication we initiate with our customers is accompanied by an advisory. We urge our customers to exercise utmost caution while making online payments and transactions.”

A senior officer from Cyber crime police station said, “As per the Interpol terminology, these scams fall under the broader category of social engineering frauds in which cyber criminals exploit a victim’s fears, trust and vulnerabilities in order to obtain money directly or obtain confidential information to enable a subsequent crime.

Imagine being told that you will have no cooking gas tomorrow. It is these fears which are exploited by Cyber criminals.”

When asked if there is a possibility of data of MNGL consumers having been leaked to Cyber fraudsters, a police officer said, “That is not the case. The modus operandi of any phishing scam is to send random messages to several numbers, like throwing a net. Those gullible, fall prey to fraud and respond.”

The officer added, “The modus operandi in these Cyber frauds includes a multi layer ploy that preys on the vulnerabilities of the elderly. In many cases official logos and official language is used to prompt them to call a designated number, where scammers pose as customer service executives. The criminals even guide victims through the process of downloading a remote access application, claiming it’s needed for bill payment. It is important that along with children, we also sensitise the elderly people in regard to cyber security. It is important that victims approach the nearest police station immediately.”