Mumbai: A 27-year-old man from Jharkhand has been arrested by the Mumbai Police's Cyber cell for allegedly creating a fake site of Mahavitaran-- Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) and duping people by making them pay their electric bills. The accused, who has previous cyber fraud cases registered against him, has also been found asking people to pay their electric bills by sending them messages with a link to fake sites.
According to police sources, the accused, identified as Charku Khublal Mandal, 27, took advantage of the fact that electricity bills of many people were pending and started sending out text messages by bulk to people, pretending to be a legit medium of MSEDCL, along with links of a fake website which had a close resemblance to the original site. After many users fell prey to the fraud, they approached the Mahavitaran company, which brought the matter to police's notice and lodged a complaint.
A police official said that accordingly a case was registered on January 20, following which a probe was launched. Investigators learnt that the accused was from Jharkhand and subsequently a team was sent there. A trap was laid and Mandal was nabbed from his hometown on January 29. Police have recovered four mobile phones and one SIM card from the accused.
While the accused was booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act, a further probe revealed that Mandal was earlier arrested by Faridabad Police for cyber fraud and was released on bail in August last year. Mandal worked with two other accomplices and began duping people. Probe also revealed that the fake website was created by the accused on January 17 and with swift arrest, the cyber police thwarted cheating of over 2.3 crore users across the state.
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