Indore: Woman cheated of Rs 2 lakh on pretext of paying due power bill

Indore (Madhya Pradesh): A woman was duped of Rs 2 lakh by a conman, who posed as an officer of the electricity company. After receiving a message about the due electricity bill, the woman had made a phone call to the accused. However, the state cyber cell has managed to return the entire amount to the woman in her account.

SP (Cyber Cell) Jitendra Singh said a woman lodged a complaint on August 24 stating that she had received a message about a due electricity bill of her house from an unidentified number. In the message, a mobile number was also mentioned. When she contacted the mobile number, the receiver informed that he was an officer of the electricity company. The accused said the electricity connection would be disconnected if the bill was found pending even after the due date.

The woman downloaded a mobile phone app, named ‘Quick Support’. The accused got all her bank account details and managed to steal Rs 2 lakh from her bank through her net banking credentials. When she received a message about the deduction of the money, she came to know about the fraud. Later, she lodged a complaint with the cyber cell.

The officials checked her bank statement and found that the money was transferred to a watch company through two payment gateways. An e-mail was sent to the bank to stop the transaction and the officers also spoke to the nodal officer of the bank about the matter. The cyber cell officers managed to return the entire amount to the woman’s bank account.

The cyber cell officer urged people not to trust messages received from unidentified numbers and pay electricity bills only through the official website or mobile app of the electricity board or through their bill counters. They also urged people not to update KYC, or share bank details with unidentified persons, or install any remote application on their mobile phones to avoid such online frauds.

Police return Rs 1.25 lakh to online fraud victim

A man from Katni was duped of Rs 1.25 lakh by a person on the lure of investing his money in the share market, an officer said on Saturday. The Crime Branch managed to return the money to the bank account of the complainant within hours.

According to a Crime Branch officer, a certain Umesh from Katni district lodged a complaint against a person named Sagar Talash of the Kulkarni ka Bhatta area of the city stating that the accused had contacted the complainant and told him he could earn more profit by investing money in the share market through him. On the lure of investing money and opening a demat account of the complainant, the accused received Rs 1.25 lakh from the complainant.

The Crime Branch officers started an investigation and managed to return the entire amount to the complainant’s bank account. The Crime Branch officer asked people to report online fraud immediately to the nearest police station or inform Cyber Helpline at 7049124445.

Published on: Sunday, September 04, 2022, 12:06 AM IST