Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (TP)

Udupi, Mar 17: A cyber fraud case has been registered at the Udupi City police station after a woman was cheated of Rs 1,45,022 by a fraudster posing as an official from a gas company.

According to the complaint filed by Leeli Florin D’Silva, the incident occurred on March 11. At around 11.30 am, she received a phone call from a person who identified himself as Devesh Joshi from Mahanagar Gas Limited, Mumbai. The caller informed her that the online payment made for the gas service had not been updated and asked her to download an APK application sent through WhatsApp to resolve the issue.

Trusting the caller, the complainant downloaded the ‘Mahanagar Gas APK app’ sent to her. Later, around 3 pm, the same person called again claiming there was a technical issue and asked for the bank account details of her husband, which she provided.

At about 4 pm, the complainant received messages on her mobile phone indicating that Rs 46,636 and Rs 29,381 had been debited from her ICICI Bank Mumbai branch account. Additionally, Rs 69,005.31 was debited from her husband’s Canara Bank Santekatte branch account.

Realizing that they had been cheated, the complainant approached the police. In total, Rs 1,45,022 was fraudulently withdrawn from their bank accounts.

Based on the complaint, the Udupi City police station has registered a case and has begun an investigation into the incident.