Delhi Police busted a gang involved in cyber fraud and arrested 65 people who allegedly used to cheat others on the pretext of updating the BSES electricity bill.
According to Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) KPS Malhotra, police busted the gang after raiding 22 cities and the whole operation culminated in 10 days.
Police recovered as many as 45 mobile phones, 60 debit/credit cards, nine chequebooks, seven passbooks, and 25 pre-activated SIM cards.
“Gang of people involved in cyber fraud busted after raids in 22 cities. 65 accused were arrested. Gang used to cheat on the pretext of updating BSES electricity bill. 45 phones, 60 debit cards, and 25 pre-activated SIM cards were recovered. Over 100 bank accounts were frozen,” Malhotra said.
Recently, a new modus operandi was noticed in the cyber crimes reported at National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP).
It was found that fraudsters are sending random messages to the people that their electricity bill has not been updated in the system and that by tonight their electricity connection would be disconnected, police said.
“Victims who fear that their electricity connection might be disconnected by night, make a call to the number mentioned in the message. During the call, the fraudster impersonates an electricity officer and through social engineering, the fraudster either takes the bank account details or gets installed remote access software,” DCP said.
Once the details are shared, the fraudster transfers the amount from the victim’s account to the fake/fraudulently obtained accounts using the remote access software, he said.
More than 200 complaints were reported at NCRP and more than 500 instances of cheating were noticed, police said.
“Delhi Police is cautioning the general public that no official of the electricity department or any other government department asks you to install any software on your mobile phone to resolve any grievance and never seeks any bank details including account number and others,” the DCP added further.
Further investigation of the cases is underway.
