Cyber fraudsters loot Rs 1.85 lakh through electricity bill from West Godavari man

VIJAYAWADA: A case of fraud has been reported in Undi village of West Godavari district, in which a person lost Rs 1.85 lakh to cyber fraudsters. The scam occured in March 2023. However, it came to light on Monday, after the victim approached the police.

According to police, the victim was identified as K Peddaramakrishnam Raju, a native of Pedapulleru Village of West Godavari district. In March, Peddaramakrishnam Raju received a message from an anonymous number to pay the pending electricity bill for February. If not, the power supply would be stopped for his house. For further details, PeddaramaKrishnam Raju was asked to contact a number.

Upon calling the number, the alleged fraudster told the victim that his electricity bill was paid and asked him to download a link to verify the payment status. As per the request, he had opened the link which directed him to an anonymous website. The website didn’t have any details of the electricity bill and the victim once again called the anonymous number. In return, the fraudster replied to the victim to pay Rs 5,000 through UPI transaction to get the complete details of the electricity bill, the police said.

The victim trusted the fraudsters and paid Rs 5,000 through UPI transaction. After receiving the payment, the fraudsters didn’t call back Peddaramakrishnam Raju, and when the victim tried to contact the fraudsters there was no response from their side. Since then, the victim didn’t bother much about the UPI transaction made to the fraudsters. However, the victim noticed that he was duped by the fraudsters after he tried to withdraw an amount from his bank account.

Immediately, the victim approached the police and came to know that Rs 1.85 lakh was being transferred to some other account on March 28, 2023. After going through the bank statement of Peddaramakrishnam Raju, the police noticed that the cyber fraudsters had duped him of Rs 1.85 lakh on the pretext of delay in payment of the electricity bill. A case was registered and further investigations were underway into the incident, the police said, and appealed to people not to open the links forward from anonymous numbers.