A 36-year-old woman had recently received a WhatsApp message containing an APK file for updating Aadhar with the bank. The victim clicked on the said file after which she started receiving OTPs which were being forwarded to another mobile number and Rs 13.20 lakh got debited from her bank accounts in 19 transactions in a single day. The police have launched an investigation into the incident.
According to the police, the victim is a resident of Mazgaon. On July 28, the victim had received a WhatsApp message from an unknown number containing a file 'Union Bank Aadhar Update.apk'. When the victim clicked on the apk file, a page containing information about the debit card opened. But since the victim did not have the bank's debit card she ignored the message. After a while the victim started receiving messages with different OTPs from different websites and all these OTPs were being forwarded to another unknown mobile number. Before the victim could understand what was happening, she started receiving transaction alert messages from the bank.
When the victim checked her bank account balance, she was shocked to know that Rs 13.20 lakh were transferred from his bank account and only Rs 800 balance were remaining. Having realised that she had been cheated she raised a complaint on the cyber crime portal. A case has been registered by the Cyber Crime police in Mumbai under the relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Information Technology Act.
The police had earlier also issued an alert warning citizens about the rampant APK scam fraud. "It is a fake app designed to steal one's bank login details, SMS and OTP. One should never download unknown files received via email, messages or WhatsApp. Recognize the identity of the sender, block and report suspicious accounts. Disable the "install unknown apps/sources" feature on your phone and do not share your personal information with anyone," the alert had stated.
