Navi Mumbai: Three Navi Mumbai residents were duped of collectively Rs 26.59 lakh in an MGL bill update scam after they downloaded the malicious ‘Apk file’ sent to them by scamsters under the pretext of updating their MGL pending bill.The scamsters hacked their mobile data and, gaining remote access to their mobile, they carried out fraudulent transactions by debiting the amount from their bank accounts. Two victims are senior citizens. One of them is a retired govt official residing in New Panvel and the other is a businessman residing in Ulwe. The third victim is a 34-year-old man, a teacher by profession residing in Panvel. As they lodged online complaints on NCCRP, three separate FIRs were registered on Monday at Ulwe, Khandeshwar and Panvel City police stations on Wednesday.The 63-year-old businessman from Ulwe was duped of Rs 13.37 lakh on July 12. The scamster posing as an MGL employee called on his mobile and told him that his MGL supply would be disconnected due to his pending bill. When he claimed that he had paid the bill, he was sent an Apk file for paying Rs 10 to update his bill. As he downloaded the Apk file and opened the link, his mobile was hacked and the scamster debited Rs 13.37 lakh from his bank account. On Wednesday, an FIR at Ulwe police station was registered under BNS sections for cheating and dishonestly inducing the delivery of property and cheating by personation along with the IT Act.API Anil Rajure of Ulwe, probing the cybercrime case, said, “The senior citizen had not disabled the ‘Auto download’ option on his WhatsApp. Hence, when the scamster sent him the Apk file, it got auto-downloaded and when he clicked on it, he became a victim of cyber fraud. Hence, citizens need to dial ##002# universal code to instantly disable all types of call and message forwarding on mobile to prevent getting scammed.“Another senior citizen aged 63 years, who is a retired govt official residing in Khanda Colony, New Panvel, was duped of Rs 7.25 lakh on July 12 by a scamster posing as MGL staff, who sent him an Apk file on WhatsApp for downloading it for paying Rs 12 as MGL service charges. As he followed the instructions, he got scammed. After he lodged a complaint on NCCRP, an FIR was registered at Khandeshwar police station against the unidentified accused under BNS sections for cheating and dishonestly inducing the delivery of property and criminal breach of trust along with the IT Act.The third victim, a 34-year-old man who is a teacher residing in Panvel, was duped of Rs 5.97 lakh. The incident occurred on May 16 when he received an Apk file on WhatsApp from an unknown number for updating MGL bill payment. As he downloaded the file, the scamster hacked his mobile data and carried out fraudulent transactions by debiting the amount from his bank account.PSI Abhay Kadam of Panvel city police station said, “The victim teacher lodged a complaint on NCCRP after about one week of the incident, when the portal team conducted a preliminary investigation and transferred the case to Panvel city police station. Despite repeatedly calling the complainant to the police station for recording his statement for registering an FIR, he came after two months on Wednesday. Accordingly, an FIR under BNS section for cheating and dishonestly inducing the delivery of property and the IT Act was registered against the unidentified accused who sent him the malicious Apk file.“
