Lakhs of rupees are being looted in the name of electricity bill, beware of such SMS

Electricity consumers in India are becoming victims of scammers. Scammers are sending messages to users through SMS or WhatsApp that their bill is due and if they do not pay it, their connection will be disconnected. It contains a phone number, which essentially helps scammers establish contact with users. In the last few days, many users have lost lakhs of rupees due to these scams.

users on twitter complaints From It shows That there has been a spurt in electricity bill scams across India. The scammers are targeting users in several states including Gujarat, Maharashtra, Punjab and Odisha.

The fake message mimics the SMS of the electricity company and asks users to dial a specific phone number. It is written in the message that this number belongs to the Electricity Officer. It states that if the payment is not made, the electricity connection will be disconnected. In this, an amount is also given in the name of pending electricity bill.

Gadgets 360 checked these SMS messages being sent by scammers over the past few days and found that in all cases, the phone numbers provided became unavailable shortly after the messages were sent.

In some cases, scammers were seen sending fake electricity bill alert messages using SMS headers to avoid getting caught at first sight and target a large number of people at once. We found that the headers were not connected to official power distributors. Instead they were assigned to individuals – in some cases to people from Bihar and Jharkhand.

Agencies including Maharashtra Cyber ​​have informed users not to pay attention to any such message. Power departments including TP Central Odisha Distribution Limited (TPCODL) have also pointed out that the actual disconnection message consists of the users’ contract number (CA) number and should include the official helpline number.