Three men from Uttarakhand have been arrested for impersonating Delhi Jal Board (DJB) officials and duping people, threatening to cut their water supply through a malicious DJB application. The accused named Ravi Mandal, Ramesh Kumar Mandal and Mahendra Kumar Mandal tricked people into downloading a fake application after sending them a message regarding their water connection getting cut and stole their banking credentials, Times of India reported.
The report, quoting the police, added that the scam came to light after a resident of RK Puram received a message on May 12, stating: "Dear Customer, your Delhi Jal Board connection will be disconnected tonight at 8.30pm. Previous month meter reading was not updated. Please contact DJB."
The message also included a number, and when the victim connected to the number, the receiver on the other end reiterated the claim and instructed the resident to download a DJB application. Following the instructions, the man installed the application to make a nominal payment of Rs 12 for his water connection. Several details, along with banking credentials, were demanded while going through the process.
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Although the payment failed, the man noticed that a whopping amount of Rs 38,161 was deducted from his account through several illegal transactions.
Later, it was clarified by the investigators that the so-called DJB app was actually a malicious APK file designed to steal sensitive data.
The accused targeted several other victims, using the same tactics.
DCP (Southwest) Surendra Choudhary said the suspects were nabbed after a seven-day operation conducted across Dhanbad, Durgapur, Jamtara, Deogarh and surrounding areas. Police recovered 13 mobile phones and one tablet used in the crime, the report added.
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