A 29-year-old resident of Ranip in Ahmedabad has reported losing ₹9.48 lakh after an APK file allegedly gave a cybercriminal access to his mobile phone and banking information, according to a complaint filed with the cyber-crime police.
The complainant, identified as Raj Jitendrakumar Sheth, works at a mobile store and told the police that he received a text message on October 31 asking him to install a file named “love chat.apk”. The file was later found on his phone by technical experts as part of the cyber-crime investigation.
According to the complaint, installing the file enabled unauthorised access to the device. The complainant’s bank account and password information were allegedly obtained, after which multiple transactions were made through the PayU payment gateway. A total of ₹9,48,493.83 was transferred to different bank accounts, the complaint stated.
Sheth became aware of the suspected fraud on November 1 when he tried to open his mobile banking application. After the application failed to open, he reset his password and logged in. He then noticed that money had been debited from his bank account.
A review of the phone also showed that an Aadhaar-related one-time-password message had arrived on October 31, according to the report. The complainant subsequently contacted the national cyber-fraud helpline at 1930 and visited the cyber-crime police station, where technical experts examined his device.
The case highlights the use of malicious Android application packages, or APK files, to obtain access to personal devices. Unlike applications downloaded through official app stores, APK files can be installed directly from links or messages. The complaint in this case alleges that the file was used to access the victim’s phone and facilitate financial transactions.
The police have registered a complaint against the unidentified hacker. The report does not state whether the transferred amount has been recovered or whether any arrests have been made. Further investigation into the recipient accounts, the payment gateway transactions and the source of the APK file is underway.
