An Ahmedabad senior citizen lost Rs 2.4 lakh after cyber scammers posing as Bank of Baroda representatives allegedly sent him a fake pension-card verification application and obtained access to his banking details, according to a police complaint.
The 65-year-old resident of Dariapur, who runs a business in Kalupur, told police that he received a call from an unknown number at around 9pm on October 13. The caller allegedly claimed to be a representative of the bank’s Mumbai branch and offered to help him obtain a pension card for senior citizens.
The caller then sent an Android application package, or APK, through WhatsApp. The file was named “BoB Bank senior citizen verification.apk”. The victim was instructed to install it on his mobile phone and provide personal information, including his name and mobile number, as well as his MPIN and TPIN.
After entering the details, the victim was allegedly told that his pension-card application was being processed and that he should not switch off his phone. He subsequently received several debit alerts showing that a total of Rs 2.4 lakh had been withdrawn from his bank account in four transactions.
When the victim questioned the caller, the person allegedly assured him that the money had not actually been deducted. Suspecting that he had been defrauded, the man contacted his bank. He was advised to report the incident to the cybercrime helpline 1930 and later approached the local police to register a complaint.
The case illustrates how fraudsters are using the language of banking services and senior-citizen benefits to persuade victims to install unauthorised applications. In this incident, the alleged scam combined impersonation, a mobile application delivered through a messaging platform and the collection of banking credentials.
The reported loss also shows the risk created when a victim is persuaded to keep a phone active while an unauthorised application operates in the background. The complaint states that the withdrawals took place while the caller continued to claim that the pension-card process was underway.
The victim’s bank directed him to the 1930 cybercrime helpline, which is used for reporting suspected financial cyber fraud. The local police have taken the complaint on record. The supplied report does not specify whether the withdrawn amount has been frozen or recovered, or whether any arrests have been made.
