22 people duped of over Rs 31 lakh through malicious link for gas bill update

Thane: A 60-year-old retired man from Thane district and 21 others were allegedly cheated of over Rs 31 lakh through a malicious link (APK file) sent under the pretext of updating a piped gas company's bill payment, police said on Saturday.The complainant, a resident of Khadakpada in Kalyan, received a WhatsApp message on May 30 from a man posing as 'Divesh Joshi' on his mobile number, the officials said.The accused sent an APK file named 'Mahanagar Gas bill update http://Online.apk' and asked the victim to pay Rs 10 via debit card. When the payment failed, the complainant was asked to use another card. Soon after, he began receiving OTPs and a total of Rs 8.68 lakh were debited from his two bank accounts in six transactions, they said.According to the Khadakpada police, 21 other persons were similarly duped of Rs 22.74 lakh, taking the total fraud amount to Rs 31.43 lakh.A case was registered under section 318 (4) (cheating) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and sections of the Information Technology Act against the accused, the police said. PTI