Electricity Authority data leaks, call center drains young man’s money from account

A young medical technician was scammed by a call center gang who drained 20,497 baht from his account. He revealed that the other party had detailed information about his electricity usage and claimed to have refunded him during COVID. He said he was very careful and believed the information because it was very accurate. Mr. Yutthana, 54 years old, a medical technician at Ban Dan Hospital, Ban Dan District, Buriram Province, complained to the media after being tricked by a call center gang into draining more than 20,000 baht from his account in order to warn the general public. He also wants the government to fix the system to be better. He told reporters that two days ago, he received a phone call from an official of the Provincial Electricity Authority saying that he had replaced the old meter that was more than 40 years old with a digital meter in his hometown in Surin Province. At first, he did not believe it because he called outside of office hours, but the person on the other end of the line said th at the electricity authority provided service 24 hours a day. Because of uncertainty, I called the village headman in Surin Province to ask. The village headman informed me that the change had actually happened and had been made. Then, the person claiming to be an official said that the electricity authority would transfer the money back during the COVID-19 outbreak. This would result in a refund of 1,000 baht per month for FT fees for a total of 3 months. The total amount reported was 2,497 baht. The person on the other end of the line also told me to download the PEA app and told me to talk via the Line application. I went in and filled in the information as they asked. After that, my phone turned off. When I turned it back on, I found that 20,497 baht had been transferred out, leaving only 97 satang in my account. I would like to warn the general public that even though the news is regularly announced, there are still people who believe it, especially me who has always been careful. This time, I made a m istake by believing it because they had detailed information from the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand. I would like the government to find a way to solve this problem. No matter how much knowledge you have, you can still fall victim to this group. Source: Thai News Agency