Sikkim: Cyber hackers find new way to dupe people in the name of electricity bills

Cyber hackers have come up with a new tactic to dupe people in Sikkim and this time it involves your electricity bill.

Of late, people have reported getting messages on Text Messages and WhatsApp reminding them to pay the electricity bill, failing which their electricity connection will be suspended.

The message is alarming enough to influence even a tech-savvy person to not give a second thought and make a payment immediately taking this new scam seriously the power department today cautioned the public not to fall prey to the new scam.

Jigmey Namgyal, Chief Engineer (Headquarter) shared "New Digital scam over the bill payment through SMS is going on in the market we have received many complaints and we even apprise the same to SP and we would also like to appeal to all our consumers to be vigilant of SMS scam over electricity bill payment as we never send any message for bill payment.

While, Ganesh Chettri, Principal Chief Engineer and Secretary Power Department cautioned the public to be aware and think many times before acting.

While speaking on power cuts and delay in repairing work he said " we are doing our best, our staffs are there in the field and due to difficult terrain. He also said to ascertain the defect and main problem is the biggest challenge but we have raised these issues to the centre also and by next year we will be able to provide a 24/7 power supply.

Meanwhile, ML Thakur Superintendent Engineer (Expert for Prepaid electric metre) shared that "as many as 7372 prepaid electricity metres have been installed in Gangtok, while 626 in Mangan, 344 in Gayzing, 190 in Jorethang, 535 in Singtam and 528 in Rangpo. All together 9650 metres have been installed in Sikkim to date which is 36.21%.

Notably, last year the department said all the households in urban areas of Sikkim will have Prepaid Electricity Smart Meters by 2021 but due to non-cooperation from the public and other issues they failed to do so and to date, they have only covered 36 per cent now they are planning to install all allocated machines as soon as possible. Eight towns of Sikkim are Gangtok, Namchi, Mangan, Jorethang, Rangpo, Singtam, Geyzing and Nayabajaar.

The Prepaid Energy Meters was officially launched by Chief Minister, Prem Singh Tamang at his official residence, Mintokgang, on 16th November 2021.