71-Year-Old Ahmedabad Man Loses ₹91,719 After Filling Fake Gas Bill Form on WhatsApp
Summarized by AI; it may make mistakes. Check important info
Summarized by AI; it may make mistakes. Check important info
A 71-year-old businessman from Ahmedabad’s Kalupur area allegedly lost ₹91,719.26 after a fraudster posing as an Adani Gas employee tricked him into filling out a fake online form sent through WhatsApp on the pretext of updating his gas bill.
According to a police complaint filed by Keyur Rajnikant Jhaveri, a resident of Qashbawad in Doshiwada Ni Pol, the alleged fraud took place between October 14 and 15. The complainant said the caller obtained his banking and debit card details, after which three unauthorised transactions were made from his Central Bank of India savings account.
Caller Posed as Adani Gas Employee
Jhaveri told police that he received a call from an unknown mobile number at around 12.30 pm on October 14. The caller allegedly identified himself as Rajiv Kushwaha from Adani Gas and said he was contacting him about an update to his gas bill.
As Jhaveri was travelling, he asked the caller to contact him later. The caller rang again at around 2 pm, claiming that the gas bill had not been updated, and sent an online form to the complainant’s WhatsApp number to complete the process.
The form allegedly sought the consumer ID, name, mobile number, bank account details and debit card information, including the PIN and CVV. Jhaveri said he filled in the requested information and submitted the form, following which the caller disconnected the call.
Three Unauthorised Transactions Detected
On October 15, at around 7 pm, Jhaveri received a bank alert about a transaction of ₹8,626.46 that he had not authorised.
After checking his account statement, he found two more unauthorised transactions of ₹46,654.64 and ₹41,488.16. The three transactions totalled ₹91,719.26.
The complainant alleged that the money had been fraudulently transferred from his Central Bank of India savings account through UPI transactions.
Complaint Filed Through Cybercrime Helpline
Jhaveri said he contacted the national cybercrime helpline at 1930 on October 15 and was asked to submit his bank statement and transaction details.
He subsequently obtained the statement from the bank’s Gandhi Road branch and lodged a complaint through the helpline on October 22. He approached the police station later to file a formal complaint, stating that he had been occupied with his business.
Police have registered a case against an unidentified person and launched an investigation into the alleged cyber fraud.
