Mumbai: Man arrested for duping people by sending fake links to pay electricity bills

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A 27-year-old man from Jharkhand has been arrested by the Mumbai police for allegedly duping people by creating a fake website of Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) and sending them fake links to pay their power bills, an official said on Friday.

The cyber police station of the Mumbai crime branch apprehended Charku Khublal Mandal, a resident of Deoghar, on January 29 after a raid at his residence in Jharkhand, the official said.

Mandal had allegedly created a fake website of the MSEDCL and sent SMSes to consumers with a link for payment of power bills, he said.

When consumers made payment on the link, the money was redirected to a different account, the official said.

The fraud came to light when MSEDCL officials filed a complaint with the cyber police station, he said.

Prima facie, the accused seems to have duped people of Rs 65,000, he said.

Based on technical inputs, the police traced Mandal's location, following which he was apprehended after a raid in Jharkhand, the official said.

The accused was earlier arrested by the Delhi Police in a cyber fraud case and had come out on bail in August 2021, he added.

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