Mumbai: Fake WhatsApp Gas Disconnection Message Costs Retired Bank Officer ₹2.47 Lakh in Cyber Fraud

Cyber fraudsters have once again duped a victim by falsely threatening gas connection disconnection. A 61-year-old retired bank officer residing in Anushaktinagar was cheated of around ₹2.47 lakh after receiving a fake WhatsApp message claiming her gas connection would be cut.

According to police, the complainant is a retired officer of a nationalised bank residing in the BARC residential area and depends on her pension for livelihood. On January 18, at around 12.17 pm, she received a WhatsApp message stating that her Mahanagar Gas connection would be disconnected at 9.30 pm the same night due to non-updation of the previous bill. The message also mentioned a mobile number for contact.

As the gas connection was linked to her flat in Pune, the woman assumed the message to be genuine and contacted the number provided. Shortly thereafter, an unidentified person answered the call and, under the pretext of checking the gas bill, sent an APK file to her via WhatsApp. As soon as she clicked on the file, her mobile phone was hacked.

The fraudster then asked her to enter credit and debit card details on the pretext of making a nominal payment of ₹12 towards the gas bill. During this process, a total amount of ₹2,47,367 was siphoned off from her two bank accounts through multiple transactions to unknown accounts. The victim realised she had been cheated when she started receiving multiple OTP messages.

In panic, she immediately informed her bank and attempted to freeze her accounts. Later, at 5.13 pm, she lodged a complaint with the cyber crime helpline number 1930. Due to a technical error, there was a minor discrepancy in the amount and account numbers mentioned in the complaint, though the actual cheated amount has been stated as ₹2.47 lakh.

Based on the complaint, a case of cyber fraud has been registered against unknown persons and further investigation is underway.