An Ahmedabad retired teacher lost Rs 4.32 lakh after cyber fraudsters allegedly sent her an APK file under the pretext of booking a doctor’s appointment and gained access to her phone messages, according to a complaint registered by Sardarnagar police. The incident highlights how routine digital services, including medical appointment requests, are being used to target bank customers through malicious mobile applications.
The 60-year-old woman, identified as Manjushree Durgacharan Singh Rajput, lives in Gopal Park on Maya Cinema Road in the Sardarnagar area. According to the report, her son was unwell, prompting her to search online for the contact number of a doctor identified as Ravindrakumar Lodha.
The person who answered the call allegedly told her to complete an appointment form and sent a file named “appartment_booking_FUD.apk” through WhatsApp. She was also asked to pay Rs 5 as an online processing fee. The woman installed the file and attempted to make the payment through Google Pay, but the transaction failed. She reportedly became suspicious during the conversation and stopped the payment.
By then, however, the APK file had allegedly obtained full access to the mobile phone. Messages and calls, including information connected with one-time passwords, were reportedly forwarded automatically to another mobile number. The access allowed the suspected fraudsters to monitor or receive banking-related messages even though the initial payment attempt had not succeeded.
On the morning of October 21, the woman received a message indicating that Rs 75,000 had been debited from her bank account. She immediately went to the bank branch near Maya Cinema and had the account frozen. A subsequent review of the bank statement showed that Rs 1.65 lakh had been withdrawn through transactions on October 20, followed by separate withdrawals totalling Rs 2.69 lakh on October 21.
The combined loss was Rs 4.32 lakh. The report said Sardarnagar police registered a case against the suspected gang and began an investigation. The account freeze was carried out after the woman approached the bank, while the police inquiry is examining the phone access, the forwarded messages, the mobile numbers involved and the transaction trail.
The case also shows the operational risk created when a phone becomes the control point for appointments, payments, authentication messages and banking alerts. In this incident, the payment request failed, but the alleged installation of the APK file still enabled access that preceded the account withdrawals. The investigation and the bank’s transaction records will determine how the money was moved and whether recovery is possible.
