A 29-year-old resident of Ranip in Ahmedabad has filed a cyber-fraud complaint alleging that a malicious APK file installed on his mobile phone enabled unauthorised access and led to the transfer of Rs 9.48 lakh from his bank account.
According to the complaint reported by Gujarat Samachar – Ahmedabad, the victim, identified as Raj Jitendrakumar Sheth, works at a mobile store. He allegedly received a text message on October 31 asking him to install a file named “love chat.apk”. After the file was installed, the complainant suspected that the sender obtained access to his mobile phone and bank-related information.
The report said that a total of Rs 9,48,493.83 was transferred from his bank account through multiple transactions using the PayU payment gateway. The money was allegedly moved to other accounts. The report did not identify the account holders who received the funds or state whether any recovery had been made.
Sheth became aware of the suspected fraud on November 1 when he tried to open his mobile banking application and found that it was not functioning. After resetting his password and logging in again, he noticed that money had been debited from the account.
The report said that an Aadhaar OTP message had also arrived on the victim’s phone on October 31. He subsequently contacted the 1930 cyber-fraud helpline and visited the cybercrime police station. Technical experts who examined the phone reportedly found a file named “love chat.apk”, described in the report as a virus-infected file.
A complaint has now been registered at the cybercrime police station against the person or persons suspected of carrying out the fraud. The supplied report does not provide details of arrests, the identity of the accused, the exact method used to obtain the banking credentials or the status of efforts to freeze or recover the transferred money.
The case highlights the role that mobile devices now play in access to banking services and the exposure created when unknown application files are installed. In this instance, the suspected fraud became visible to the account holder only after he encountered a problem with his mobile banking application and checked the account balance.
The investigation will determine how the APK file was delivered, what permissions it obtained on the phone, how the banking information was accessed and whether the transactions can be traced through the payment gateway and receiving accounts. The police complaint and technical examination of the device form the basis of the case as reported by the source.
