Mumbai: Cyber fraudsters cheated an 81-year-old Wadala resident of Rs7.62 lakh by tricking him into downloading a fake PNB One.apk mobile application. The victim, Praveenkant Amritlal Shah, was allegedly duped after cybercriminals impersonated Punjab National Bank (PNB) customer care officials. An FIR has been registered against unknown persons at Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Marg police station, and further investigation is underway.
Trouble Accessing Official App Leads Victim To Fake Customer Care Number
According to the FIR, Shah, who lives with his family in Wadala and works as a consultant with Skyway Infra Projects Pvt. Ltd., faced issues accessing the official PNB mobile application on the morning of December 17, 2025. While searching online for PNB customer care, he contacted one of the numbers listed on Google.
The caller falsely claimed to be a PNB customer care representative and convinced Shah to share sensitive banking details, including his user ID, password, debit card details, and Apple ID. The fraudster also instructed him to enable call and SMS forwarding to specific numbers. Later, through a WhatsApp video call, Shah was asked to download an APK file named PNB ONE.apk, which appeared to function like the bank’s official app.
After keeping him engaged on the call for nearly one-and-a-half hours, the caller disconnected, assuring Shah that the app would start working the next morning. Soon after, Shah was alerted by a friend that his calls were being diverted elsewhere. Acting on advice, Shah visited the PNB Wadala branch, where he discovered that Rs7,62,500 had been transferred online from his account.
Suspicious Call Diversion Leads To Discovery Of Major Financial Loss
Bank officials confirmed that the downloaded app was fake and informed Shah that he had fallen victim to cyber fraud. Shah immediately lodged a complaint on the cyber helpline number 1930 and subsequently approached the police.
Based on his complaint, a case has been registered under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Act, and the Information Technology (IT) Act against the unidentified app operators, beneficiaries of the bank accounts, and their associates.
Further investigation is underway.
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