Nagpur: A 91-year old retired Wing Commander of Indian Air Force was duped of Rs 4.90 lakh by a cyber crook on the pretext of his electricity bill not being updated. Sitabuldi police have mounted a search to apprehend the criminals who impersonated an officer from the power supply company.
According to police, the victim, Stanley Joseph Nazrel, a resident of Plot No 07, Indra-Sagar Apartment, Civil Lines, received a call from cell number 7595843320 on August 16. Identifying himself as Mukesh Sharma from Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL), he told Stanley that his electricity bill for May-June 2022 was not updated. The caller asked him to download the ‘SMS-to-Phone’ App on his mobile phone. After making him download the application, the cyber crook asked Stanley to fill the form reflected on the screen of his mobile phone.
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Thursday 09 Jan. 2025
Presuming the caller to be an officer from the billing section of the MSEDCL, Stanley filled up the online form received by him and also revealed personal information, such as details of his Bank of India account, debit card number, date of expiry of the card and CVV number. After he received the one time password (OTP), he shared it with the caller. Soon, the cyber crook siphoned off Rs 4. 90 lakh from the retired Wing Commander’s account.
Following the victim’s complaint, Sitabuldi Police registered a case under Sections 419, 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), read with Sections 66(d), 66(e) of the Information Technology Act, and initiated investigation.
