NEW DELHI: The Intelligence Fusion & Strategic Operations unit of Delhi Police busted a gang of cyber cheats and arrested 65 people in 10-day-long raids for allegedly cheating citizens on the pretext of updating BSES electricity bills using remote access software, police said on Thursday.
“Recently, a new modus operandi was noticed in the cyber crimes reported at NCRP. It was found that fraudsters are sending random messages to the people that their electricity bill has not been updated in the system and that by tonight their electricity connection would be disconnected,” said KPS Malhotra, Deputy Commissioner of Police (IFSO). “The complaints received on NCRP were analysed and it was found that more than 200 complaints have been lodged in connection with BSES scam,” he added.
To bust the whole network, the police raided more than 22 cities in the countries including Jaipur, Indore, Ludhiana, Jamtara, Karmatand, Girdih, Deogarh, Dhanbad, Kolkata, Uttari Dinajpur, Medinipur West & East, 24 Pargana, West Bengal, Ahmedabad, Gandhi Nagar, Surat, Mumbai, Katihar, Bihar and Delhi. The accused bought SIM cards using fake documents. As per police, they also outwit the security features of telecom companies.
To execute their plans in a better way, they had also roped E-Mitra. E-Mitra is the government’s initiative to help people use banking services. “They procure credit cards on fraudulent documents. At the end of their step, there are tele-callers in their groups, who send bulk messages to random numbers. Whenever the general public calls back, they impersonate an electricity officer, install remote access software in their mobile phones, and transfer the amount from the bank account.