Sunitha Premkumar, a 49-year-old gazetted officer with the I-T Department, become the latest victim of the electricity bill payment scam. She is among two persons who lost a total sum of ₹8.3 lakh in separate incidents on Saturday.
In her complaint, Ms. Premkumar said she received a phone call from a man identifying himself as a Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) staffer who informed her to pay the bill to avoid disconnection. The person offered help and suggested downloading a quick support app and she followed the instructions and transferred ₹20 using the app. As soon as the payment was made, ₹4.9 lakh was deducted from her savings bank account.
Ms. Premkumar, a resident of Haralur, called up the control room to report the matter and later filed a complaint with the South- East division Cybercrime police. The police swung into action and tracked the money trail to freeze the account.
Efforts are on to recover the transferred amount, a police officer said, adding that victims should report any cyber fraud to 112 immediately during the golden hour to help the police freeze the account. This facility is available round the clock and people should share details of the transactions as soon as they call and report the matter, he added.
People should not click on any link or download any app randomly. Once these apps are downloaded, the accounts become accessible to fraudsters who can operate the account numbers even without the PIN, the officer warned.
In a similar incident, Mahadev Manjunath Hegde, a resident of BTM Layout, lost ₹3.4 lakh to a conman who, posing as a Bescom staffer, called asking him to pay the electricity bill dues online. The accused asked him to download the AnyDesk app and as soon as it was downloaded, his account was hacked and money was transferred.
The police have registered a case of impersonation, cheating, and also under various sections of the IT Act for further investigation.
