MUMBAI: A 99-year-old Juhu resident fell prey to a light bill scam, losing Rs2.78 lakhs. The fraudster tricked him into believing his power supply would be cut off at 9.30 pm due to an unpaid bill. After calling a number from a text message he received on Mar 10, four unauthorized transactions were made from his credit card. Juhu police are investigating the incident and found out that the fraudster had tricked the elderly into sharing details of his credit card and PAN Card to carry out the fraud.
EA Ashokkumar is the latest and oldest victim to fall prey to the scam. On learning that he was duped, he approached the Juhu police and filed a complaint on Saturday. “The cyber wing of the police station got in touch with the nodal officer of the bank to freeze the account to which the money was transferred from his card. Meanwhile, the team is also tracking down the number that the victim communicated,” said a police officer of the Juhu police station.
Ashokkumar, who was in a cycle business, staying with his elderly wife, son, and daughter-in-law lost the money that he earned through the interest credited to his bank account from his savings. The fraud occurred at around 3.30 pm when Ashokkumar received a text message which read: “You have not paid your light bill. Contact on a mobile number. Failing which, your power supply will be disconnected at 9.30 pm.”
In the complaint, Ashokkumar said: “I called the number and the person on the other side replied that he is from Tata Electricity and told me that I have not paid last month’s bill. When I informed him that I had paid the bill. The person said the payment was not updated in the system and asked me to share my credit card details and PAN Card. The person asked me to share the one-time password (OTP) information which is required to update the billing system. Soon, I received alerts for four transactions–Rs9654.36, Rs91168.2, Rs97000, and Rs 99937.5–on my mobile.”
Over 160 cases of light fraud cases have been registered in 2022 and Feb 2024 and hardly the police have managed to solve three cases. The total sum that the victims lost in the light bill fraud has crossed Rs2.5 crore during the period.
EA Ashokkumar is the latest and oldest victim to fall prey to the scam. On learning that he was duped, he approached the Juhu police and filed a complaint on Saturday. “The cyber wing of the police station got in touch with the nodal officer of the bank to freeze the account to which the money was transferred from his card. Meanwhile, the team is also tracking down the number that the victim communicated,” said a police officer of the Juhu police station.
Ashokkumar, who was in a cycle business, staying with his elderly wife, son, and daughter-in-law lost the money that he earned through the interest credited to his bank account from his savings. The fraud occurred at around 3.30 pm when Ashokkumar received a text message which read: “You have not paid your light bill. Contact on a mobile number. Failing which, your power supply will be disconnected at 9.30 pm.”
In the complaint, Ashokkumar said: “I called the number and the person on the other side replied that he is from Tata Electricity and told me that I have not paid last month’s bill. When I informed him that I had paid the bill. The person said the payment was not updated in the system and asked me to share my credit card details and PAN Card. The person asked me to share the one-time password (OTP) information which is required to update the billing system. Soon, I received alerts for four transactions–Rs9654.36, Rs91168.2, Rs97000, and Rs 99937.5–on my mobile.”
Over 160 cases of light fraud cases have been registered in 2022 and Feb 2024 and hardly the police have managed to solve three cases. The total sum that the victims lost in the light bill fraud has crossed Rs2.5 crore during the period.