Power disconnection ‘scam’: Sr official of petroleum co & retd govt staffer duped of lakhs

Bhopal: Cyber fraudsters duped a senior executive of a petroleum company of over Rs 1.33 lakh by threatening to disconnect his electricity connection and tricking him into clicking a fake payment link.

Shahpura police registered a case against unidentified persons.According to police, the 59-year-old complainant, a deputy general manager with a petroleum company and a resident of Rohit Nagar Phase-2 in Bawadia Kalan, received a message on June 20 warning that his electricity connection would be disconnected as his consumer details had not been updated. The message asked him to pay a registration fee of Rs 12.Soon after, he received a phone call from the same number and was sent a payment link. When he attempted to make the payment, the transaction failed. Police suspect the fraudsters gained remote access to his mobile phone and banking credentials through the malicious link.The complainant later received alerts from his bank regarding suspicious transactions.In another similar case reported in Shahpura, a 77-year-old retired irrigation department employee, was cheated of more than Rs 1.73 lakh after a caller posing as an electricity department employee convinced him to share banking details on the pretext of updating his electricity bill and consumer information.