Mangaluru resident falls prey to APK scam, loses lakhs

Mangaluru: A Mangaluru resident became the victim of a cyber scam, losing lakhs of rupees from his bank account after downloading a suspicious APK file shared via WhatsApp. Police authorities are currently investigating the case following the filing of an FIR.

The incident occurred on Sunday, when the victim received a message on WhatsApp from an unknown sender. Attached to the message was an APK file named vahan.parivahan.apk, purportedly containing details of traffic rule violations. It is to be noted that this scam has been rampant for quite some time now, operating under fake names of multiple banks and government offices.

After downloading the file, the victim’s phone began receiving 16 One-Time Passwords (OTPs). Although he did not share these OTPs with anyone, unauthorised transactions were swiftly carried out using his linked credit and debit cards. The victim recounted that his credit card was charged Rs. 30,400 on platforms like Flipkart and Amazon, Rs. 16,700 was withdrawn from his debit card, and Rs. 71,496 was transferred through a Pay Later service. Recognising the fraud, he promptly blocked both cards to prevent further misuse.

However, the scam didn’t end there. According to sources, the perpetrators continued to exploit another one the victim’s bank accounts to make high-value purchases, including a OnePlus smartphone worth Rs. 39,398, a Motorola phone costing Rs. 32,098, AirPods worth Rs. 12,800, and Flipkart vouchers valued at Rs. 14,700 and Rs. 29,000. An Amazon gift voucher worth Rs. 3,000 was also purchased. All transactions were linked to a New Delhi address, resulting in a total loss of Rs. 1,31,396 from the bank account.

Authorities have launched an investigation into the incident, with police urging citizens to exercise caution when downloading unknown files or responding to unsolicited messages. Cybersecurity experts also recommend reporting suspicious activity promptly to nullify financial losses. (eom)