The city police on Tuesday issued an alert about fraudsters who have found a new way to dupe people — by sending text messages saying their power supply would be snapped and asking them to call a member to settle the matter.
“Do not respond to such fabricated messages. Please report all such instances at our Cyber police station WhatsApp number 8100796519,” read a message posted by Kolkata police on their Facebook page and Twitter handle Tuesday.
The police said they had received several such cases where people have received text messages saying: “Dear customer your electricity power will be disconnected tonight at 10.30pm from electricity office because your previous month bill was not updated. Please immediately contact with our electricity officer 916xxxx962.”
“If anyone calls the number thinking it belongs to an official of the electricity board, the fraudster tries to convince her or him to pay the electricity bill through a link that would be sent to the person. Once he or she clicks on that link, the phone would be compromised and all transactions made through it could be controlled by the fraudsters,” said an officer at Lalbazar.
Power supply alert ruse
Another officer said elderly people are most vulnerable to such frauds as many of them are immobile and incapable of visiting the electricity office to pay the bill.
Those who try to pay online are often foxed by the technology that keeps upgrading for better safety of the users. “It is obvious that people would be scared if they are told that their electric connection would be snapped. We request all to immediately contact us if they get such messages,” said the officer.
The WhatsApp number of Lalbazar’s cyber police station is 8100796519.