Pune man loses Rs 6.22 lakh to cyber fraudsters posing as MNGL gas firm staff

Cyber fraudsters posing as staff of MNGL, the gas company, withdrew Rs 6.22 lakh from a man's bank account in Pune's Ambegaon Budruk area. The incident took place on August 18. The victim, who is 45, has filed a complaint at Bharati Vidyapeeth police station, and a case has been registered against unidentified cyber fraudsters.

According to police, the complainant lives in the Ambegaon area. On August 18 he received a call from an unknown man, who said he was speaking from the MNGL gas company's office. The caller said the gas connection had to be updated and that the gas supply would be cut off if this was not done.

The accused then sent an APK file to the complainant's mobile phone. He was asked to fill in details, and in this way was made to download the file. Police said the accused used the file to take over the phone and gain control of the bank account's transactions. Soon afterwards, Rs 6.22 lakh was transferred online from the account to other accounts.

When he realised he had been cheated, he went straight to the police. Police sub-inspector Ingle is investigating the case.

A similar incident was reported from Vishrantwadi, where Rs 3.65 lakh was transferred online from a young man's bank account to another account. It took place on October 25. The complainant learnt of the fraud only when he received a message that money had been debited from his account. He filed a complaint at Vishrantwadi police station, after which a case was registered. Police inspector Sampatrao Raut is investigating this case.