Pune: A retired state govt officer (61) lost Rs 7.22 lakh on Nov 18 after he clicked on a dubious link he received with a message stating that the piped gas company would disconnect the supply because the bill was not paid on time.The victim lodged a complaint with the Parvati police on Wednesday evening.Senior inspector Nandkumar Gaikwad of the Parvati police told TOI, “The victim received a text message stating that the bill for his piped gas connection was pending and the agency would disconnect the supply if the dues were not paid. The victim thought the message was genuine as it containedall the headers and footers similar to that of the company’s message.”He said, “The victim clicked on the link given in the message to make the payment. The link directed him to a form that required the victim tofill in the details of his debit and credit cards. He filled in all the details, and within a few hours, the money was siphoned off from his account.”The officer said the online fraudsterspurchased online goods and gift card points using the victim’s credit card details.”The suspects used a virtual private network (VPN) to send the message to the victim,” he added.
