A routine notification about your gas bill might seem harmless, but for many in Lucknow, it has become a gateway to financial disaster. Cyber fraudsters are weaponizing household utility fears to carry out a series of high-stakes digital heists, leaving victims with emptied accounts and urgent questions.
Cyber fraudsters in Lucknow are posing as Green Gas officials, warning consumers that their connections will be disconnected unless their “meter” or bill is updated, and then sending an APK file on WhatsApp to supposedly complete the process.
In Kanpur Road, another victim was sent an APK on WhatsApp with a warning that his gas supply would be shut off unless his meter was updated. The cybercriminals appear to be using leaked or available customer data to make their calls more convincing. After he paid a nominal fee of ₹ 13 and installed the application, ₹ 6.38 lakh was withdrawn from his PNB account through 13 transactions.
“In four cases flagged by cybercrime authorities, victims have collectively lost around ₹ 46.48 lakh, with one 67-year-old man losing ₹ 31.84 lakh from three bank accounts in 25 transactions,” the crime branch stated. “Once installed, the malicious application can give fraudsters remote access to the victim’s mobile phone, allowing them to target banking information and siphon off money,” said Kiran Yadav, ADCP (Crime), while launching a public awareness campaign under Operation Digital Kavach.
