Man duped of Rs 3.47 lakh by cyber fraudster posing as electricity department employee

A 57-year-old businessman fell prey to an alleged cyberfraud when he acknowledged a ‘non-payment of bill’ message on his phone purportedly sent by the electricity department, said the police.

The victim, a resident of Chembur, was tricked into revealing his Paytm and Google Pay details on a dubious app a fraudster had told him to download. The fraudster then proceeded to siphon off Rs 3.47 lakh from his bank account, said the police.

The Chembur police registered a First Information Report (FIR) on January 16. The complainant, Rajeev Pandey, told the police the incident took place on January 12 when he called an unknown number that had sent him a message alerting him the electricity to his residence would be cut since last month’s bill was still due.