Mumbai: A 61-year-old retired bank officer residing in Anushaktinagar, Trombay, was cheated of ₹2.47 lakh by cyber fraudsters who tricked her into downloading a malicious mobile application in the name of MNGL gas bill payment, following which money was siphoned off from her bank accounts.
Threatening WhatsApp Message
The complainant, 61 year old, a resident of Girnar Building, BARC Colony, Anushaktinagar, stated that she received a WhatsApp message on January 18, at around 12:17 pm, from an unknown number claiming that her MNGL gas connection would be disconnected by 9:30 pm due to non-payment of the previous month’s bill.
Call Made to Fraudster
The message asked her to immediately contact a person named Amit Joshi on a given mobile number. Since the complainant owns a flat in Amanora Park Town, Hadapsar, Pune, where an MNGL gas connection is active, she believed the message to be genuine and called the number.
Malicious APK Shared
The caller informed her that her gas bill was pending and sent her a file titled “Mngl gas bill update.apk” on WhatsApp, asking her to click on it. After opening the file, a webpage displayed a bill amount of ₹12. When she attempted to make the payment using her Bank of India credit and debit cards, the transaction failed repeatedly, following which she grew suspicious and immediately contacted the bank’s toll-free number to block her account.
Money Drained From Accounts
However, before the blocking process could be completed, she began receiving OTP alerts, and within minutes, a total amount of ₹2,47,367 was fraudulently transferred from her pension and savings accounts at the Bank of India, Chembur branch, to multiple unknown bank accounts.
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Complaint Filed With Police
Realising that she had been cheated, the victim immediately lodged a complaint with the Cyber Crime Helpline (1930) at 5:13 pm. Later, she filed a formal complaint at the Trombay Police Station, following which an offence was registered against unknown persons for cheating, cyber fraud, and IT Act violations.
Police Probe Underway
Police suspect that the fraudsters gained remote access to her mobile phone through the malicious APK file, enabling them to steal sensitive banking details and carry out unauthorised transactions. Further investigation is underway.
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