Electricity consumers in India are becoming a target for scammers tricking them into transferring money. Fraudsters are sending a message through SMS or WhatsApp to users saying their bill was due and if they don’t not pay it, their connection would be cut. It contains a phone number that essentially allows the scammer to establish a verbal connection with the user and eventually convince them to transfer money. In the last few days, some of the victims of these scams have lost lakhs of rupees.
User reports on Twitter suggest that there has been an increase in electricity bill scams across India. Scammers are targeting users in states including Gujarat, Maharashtra, Punjab, and Odisha.
The fake message pretends to be coming from the electricity distribution company and asks users to dial a particular phone number, which is falsely claimed to be of an electricity officer, to avoid disconnection of power supply. It also contains a random amount that is shamed as the pending electricity bill of the recipient.
“Dear Consumer Your Electricity power will be disconnected. Tonight at 9.30 pm from electricity office. because your previous month bill was not update. Please immediately contact with our electricity officer 8260303942 Thank you.”
*Recvd from: 08583854312*
*SCAM* @MumbaiPolice— Shekhar Panse (@panse_shekhar) June 27, 2022
Dear Consumer Your Electricity Power will be disconnected. Tonight at 9:30 pm from electricity office because your previous month bill was not updated. Please contact immediately 8797780583 Thank You.@CPMumbaiPolice @MumbaiPolice @MSEDCL . Pls take action
— Pradeep Choubey (@choubeyp) June 26, 2022
Pl look intoDear Consumer,
Your electricity power will be disconnected tonight at 9:30pm from electricity office because your previous month bill was not…