‘Dear consumer, your electricity will be disconnected tonight at 9.30 pm because last month's bill was not updated. Contact our officer 98xxxxxxxx.’ The officer installs a screen-share app and empties the account.
Why it is always fake
Distribution companies do not send disconnection notices from personal mobile numbers, do not ask you to call a mobile number, and do not collect payment through a link in an SMS. Disconnection follows a printed notice and a due-date cycle you can see in the DISCOM app.
Check your real dues
Open the DISCOM's own app or website (typed by you) and enter the consumer number printed on your bill. Pay only there or through the bill-pay section of your bank / UPI app.
If you called them
Uninstall any app they made you install, switch off data, check your bank for debits, change the banking password from another device, call the bank and 1930.
Checklist
- ☐DISCOM's official app installed
- ☐Consumer number saved from the printed bill
- ☐Autopay set through the bank / UPI app, not a link
- ☐Staff told: disconnection SMS from a mobile number = scam
Where to report
- • 1930 — national cyber-crime helpline (money lost: call within the first hour)
- • cybercrime.gov.in — National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal
- • chakshu.sancharsaathi.gov.in — report fraud numbers and SMS
- • sachet.rbi.org.in — RBI complaints about unregistered lenders / deposit schemes