Online fraud: BESCOM files plaint at cybercrime police station

Bengaluru, Aug. 24: Bengaluru Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM) has filed a complaint at Cyber Economic and Narcotics Crime Police Station (CEN) police station seeking criminal action against online fraudsters who conned consumers in the guise of ‘electricity officers’.

Despite BESCOM’s effort to bringing awareness to its customers not to heed to the attention to SMS from unknown numbers, asking them to pay electricity bills, many customers have responded to the SMS sent by online fraudsters and lost the money eventually.

Online fraudsters are targeting IT employees by sending SMS in the guise of electricity officers, asking the customers to pay the electricity bills immediately. Fearing of disconnections of electricity, customers have been paying the money through online link sent by fraudsters.

“Many of our customers have paid the electricity bill through the link sent by online fraudsters and lost their money. BESCOM has neither calling our customers nor sent any messages to them for payment of electricity bill. Despite repeated awareness campaign from BESCOM through the social media flatform and newspapers in the form of press statements and advertisements, few customers have been conned by the cyber fraudsters”, BESCOM General Manager (Customer Relations), S.R. Nagaraj stated in the complaint.

Recently few customers who received the SMS asking to pay the electricity bill had complained to 1912 helpline, based on their complaint, BESCOM has filed a complaint before the cyber crime police, BESCOM release said.

CEN police wing has started the investigation, customers have received the SMS and calls from West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh and information has shared to respective states police, said CEN police.
BESCOM repeatedly requesting its customers to pay electricity bill only at BESCOM billing counters, BESCOM Mitra App or BESCOM online portal.

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