The husband of a Punjab Engineering College (PEC) professor has become the latest victim of online scammers who are confusing people by circulating fake messages about unpaid electricity bills.
Alarming him with the false alarm that his electrical connection would be disconnected if the dues were not settled soon, the crooks retreated ₹3.65 lakh from Om Parkash Batra’s bank account.
Batra said he received the text message on his cellphone on October 10. Worried about his power connection disconnecting, he contacted the listed phone number, where he was told his payment information needed to be updated.
The accused had him download the Quick Support application to make a payment of ₹10 for verification, after which ₹3.65 lakh was withdrawn from his bank account in several transactions.
ALSO READ: UT warns against electricity bill scams
“A nephew in Canada arrested”: a resident of Sector 51 loses ₹7.25 million
In another cyber fraud incident, fraudsters targeted a resident of Sector 51 with a fake phone call indicating that his nephew in Canada had been arrested.
The victim, Balbir Singh, said his relative received a phone call from a stranger, who provided another phone number to call to understand his nephew’s situation.
Balbir said that upon calling the phone number he was informed that his nephew Jassi had been arrested by Canadian police and that 5,000 Canadian dollars would be needed for his release.
Worried about his nephew, Balbir files ₹7.25 lakh into the given bank account number through two checks, only to realize that he had fallen prey to cyber fraud.
Cybercrime Station Police have registered separate cases under Sections 419 (cheating by impersonation), 420 (cheating) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and have launched an investigation to track down the fraudsters.