A 19-year-old boy has been arrested on Saturday from his East Delhi home for allegedly duping a woman in Salt Lake of Rs 5.25 lakh by posing as a representative of an electricity distribution company.
The youth had allegedly claimed that her electricity connection would be snapped if she did not pay her dues immediately.
A team from the Salt Lake cyber crime police and the south police station arrested Lakshay Kumar following up on a complaint lodged in February.
A Bidhannagar commissionerate officer said the complainant, who stays in Salt Lake’s HB Block, had received a text message saying her power supply will get disconnected for non-payment of dues.
The message had a “helpline number” and a “cellphone number”. The woman called the cellphone number.
“The call was answered by Kumar who posed as an power supply department representative. He then sent her a link on which the payment had to be made,” the officer said
She clicked on the link and entered her bank details to pay. A few minutes later, she received multiple text alerts from her bank informing her that Rs 5.25 lakh had been debited from her account, the officer said.
“Kumar had sent her a link to a software called TeamViewer that allowed him to take control of her smartphone remotely. He then waited till she entered her bank details and then siphoned off money from her account.”
Such frauds are now common. The police and the power utilities have warned users that supply is never disconnected at such short notice.
A Bidhannagar commissionerate officer said that anyone who receives such a message must refrain from calling any number sent to them.
