Retired banker from New Panvel duped of Rs 8 lakh in gas bill scam

Navi Mumbai: A retired banker from New Panvel lost around Rs 8 lakh to an MGL billing update scam on May 1. The 64-year-old man lodged a complaint on the NCCRP after which an FIR of cheating and common intention was registered at Khandeshwar police station on Tuesday.

As per the complainant, he used to pay the MGL bills for the piped gas connection at his aged father's apartment in Classic Kalpataru society in Sector 16, New Panvel.

On May 1, around noon, he received a message on his mobile claiming that since he had not paid the MGL bill of the previous month, the PNG supply would be disconnected. To update the bill, he was instructed to call on a mobile number provided in the message. The complainant dialled the number, but the call did not go through.

Later, between 3pm and 4pm, he received WhatsApp calls from three different numbers and the callers provided him information on how to take PNG meter reading. All of them spoke in Hindi. The last caller sent him a PDF file on a demonstration of taking a reading.

The complainant said he initially refused to open the PDF, but they told him that they were genuine MGL representatives and were providing customer service. Under pressure, he clicked on the PDF file, but it did not open. When he told the caller the file was not opening, he was told they would re-send it. But after some time, he was sent an APK file link for online payment and was told to pay Rs 10 for updating the ‘MGL’ app. The complainant tried to make the payment through internet banking by entering the user ID and password, but it failed. Suspecting something amiss, the complainant refused to make the payment and disconnected the call.

Later, between 8pm and 9pm, he received bank alerts of five transactions debiting a total of Rs 8,03,604 from his account. He then realised that he was cheated by cyber fraudsters who had remotely accessed his mobile data after he clicked on the APK file link and fraudulently debited money from his bank account.