A 78-year-old Mumbai resident was swindled out of ₹25 lakh in a sophisticated electricity bill scam after a fraudster gained access to her phone via a malicious WhatsApp file, highlighting the growing threat of online financial fraud.
Key Points
- A Mumbai woman lost over ₹25 lakh after downloading a malicious file sent via WhatsApp by a fraudster posing as an electricity company employee.
- The scammer gained access to her phone and credit card details under the pretext of updating her electricity bill and completing e-KYC.
- The victim reported the incident to the 1930 helpline and filed a police complaint after discovering the fraudulent withdrawals.
- Police have registered a case under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Information Technology Act to investigate the online fraud.
A 78-year-old woman in Mumbai lost more than Rs 25 lakh online after a fraudster gained access to her mobile phone on the pretext of changing the consumer's name on the electricity bill as requested by her, police said on Wednesday.
The victim stays in Four Bungalows area in Andheri, a police official said.
The fraudster, who posed as an electricity company's employee, had sent a file to the woman on her WhatsApp number, and gained her phone's access after she downloaded it, he said.
The victim, who lives with her housemaid, had submitted an application on March 10 to change the name on her electricity bill. The next day, she went to Kerala to meet her relatives. While staying in Kerala, she received a WhatsApp call from a mobile number with the caller introducing himself as an employee of the electricity company.
He asked the victim to pay Rs 13 to change the name on the power utility's consumer account. As she was out of town, she asked the caller to speak to her house maid, following which the caller dialled her maid and put both of them on the same call.
The fraudster then sent an APK file on her WhatsApp in the name of completing e-KYC. Once she downloaded the file, he obtained access to her mobile phone. The caller then asked her credit card details and a password for verification and withdrew over Rs 25 lakh from her bank accounts. After she received messages of withdrawal of money, she realised that she was duped, the official said.
She reported the incident on the 1930 helpline, he added.
She returned to Mumbai on March 21 and lodged a complaint, based on which a case under relevant sections of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Information Technology Act has been registered.
