Pune: Cybercrooks duped a 62-year-old resident of Kothrud of Rs 10 lakh in a piped gas bill fraud on July 10. Under the pretext of updating gas bill for the month of June, the crooks shared an APK file with the elderly man and told him to download and fill details and pay Rs 10. As soon as the victim did that, Rs 10 lakh were siphoned off from his bank account in 10 transactions.
An officer from the Kothrud police said the victim, on July 10, received a message on his cellphone that his bill for the piped gas for the month of June was pending and his gas supply would be disconnected by 9 pm. "The victim contacted the cellphone number and told the person that the bill was already paid. Following this, the person told him that the bill may not have been updated.
To update the bill, the person shared an APK file and told the victim to fill in the details,” the officer said. He said the caller also told the victim to share an OTP. The victim, however, became suspicious when he did not receive the OTP.
He immediately contacted his bank and raised a complaint to stop the payment. "He, however, started receiving messages of debits from his account. The crooks siphoned Rs 10 lakh from his bank account, and the amount was further transferred to three other bank accounts," the officer said.
The senior citizen immediately filed a complaint with the cyber police station. After the preliminary investigation, a case has been registered with the Kothrud police under the relevant sections .