Fraudsters dupe 130 MGL piped gas consumers and applicants of Rs 3 crore in 7 weeks

Mumbai/Thane: In the last seven weeks, cyber fraudsters have duped more than 130 Mahanagar Gas Ltd (MGL) piped gas consumers and applicants of around Rs 3 crore by tricking them into downloading malicious APK files that enabled remote access to their phones and then theft of banking data, police said.

A 52-year-old assistant officer from State Intelligence Department lost Rs 45,000 on May 2 afternoon. “She was at her Bandra home when she received a call. The caller, posing as an MGL representative, told her that her new piped gas connection has been approved and asked her to fill details on a PDF link sent on her WhatsApp number. As soon as she filled her bank details in the PDF form, Rs 45,000 was debited from her account in two transactions. She immediately called back on the number — 9100522173. As the call went unanswered, she realised she had been duped,” said a Bandra police officer. Police have sought details from the bank’s nodal officer to freeze the account to which the money was credited.

Dhruhi Jewani, who is employed with a finance company in Dombivli, similarly lost Rs 2 lakh. In her complaint to Manpada police, Jewani, who lives in Runwal Township, said she received a WhatsApp message on Monday about the activation process for a new gas connection. As she followed the instructions, the fraudsters shared an APK file with her. After downloading the file, her phone was hacked and Rs 2 lakh was siphoned off from her credit card.

As two residents from the same complex also reportedly received similar fraudulent messages, residents suspect that the fraudster has somehow gained access to the society’s WhatsApp group and was probably even a member. As these two residents did not respond to the fraudulent MGL messages, they managed to escape from being cheated.

State cyber DIG Sanjay Shintre said scammers used multiple ways to dupe people, either pretending to help in booking a new connection or on the pretext of updating bills.

Explaining the modus operandi, Shintre said: “You receive an SMS or WhatsApp message claiming your gas bill is unpaid or hasn’t been updated. The message threatens imminent disconnection —often ‘tonight at 9.30pm’— to create panic. A fraudster calls, posing as an official from a company like MGL or Indian Oil. They may use professional-sounding language or even mention current events like gas shortage to make the situation seem more credible. The scammer instructs you to download an ‘update’ or ‘verification’ file sent via WhatsApp. This is an APK file (for instance, MGL_GAS_Bill_update.apk) that contains malware. Once installed, the malware allows the attacker to remotely control your device and see your screen and intercept OTPs (one-time passwords) sent by your bank. They capture banking credentials while you try to make a nominal ‘verification payment’ of just Rs 10 or Rs 12. Within minutes of gaining access, the fraudsters perform multiple unauthorised transactions, often siphoning off lakhs.”