MUMBAI: Sitarist Pandit Rajendra Varman (75) from Seven Bungalow in Versova became the latest victim of electricity bill fraud when an unknown cyber criminal fraudulently transferred Rs 99,000 from his savings bank account after gaining access to his banking details on August 18.
Versova police said Varman had received a phone message from an unknown sender saying that his electricity bill was pending and the power connection would soon be disconnected. When the sitarist called on the phone number mentioned in the message, he was made to believe that he had not paid last month's bill.
The man who received the phone asked Varman to click a link and pay Rs 11 to update his bill. As the sitarist followed the instructions, the cyber cheat got access to his banking details.
Three transactions were carried out to buy three flight tickets from a travel portal based in Pali, Rajasthan. While the fourth transaction was done to make payment for playing online games.
Varman approached the police within 30 minutes (during the golden hour) after realising the fund had been transferred fraudulently from his bank. "The fraudster claimed to be from the electricity department and I believed him. But immediately after unauthorised transactions were made, I got suspicious and contacted the police," Varman told TOI.
More than 120 cases of electricity bill fraud have been reported in Mumbai since June 7 and customers have lost over Rs1.6 crore in the fraud.
Pandit Varman belongs to a family of musicians from Rajasthan. He has performed in many major conferences and music festivals in India and abroad. -V.Narayan
