The police are on the lookout for an unknown cybercriminal who used an interesting modus operandi to dupe a 74-year-old retired assistant general manager of a government bank. The scammer induced the complainant to download an Android Package Kit (APK) file on his phone after which he managed to add a beneficiary bank account in his bank account and transferred money in the said beneficiary bank account.
According to the police, the complainant is a resident of Thane. The complainant had linked his mobile number with the bank account of his mother and was looking after all the banking transactions in the said account. On May 15, the complainant had received an APK file bearing name of the bank in which the complainant's mother has an account. Assuming that the said file was sent by the bank, the complainant downloaded the said file.
On May 21, the complainant received bank related OTP messages on his phone and also received a message that a beneficiary bank account had been added to his mother's bank account. The complainant also learnt that some unknown scammer had also transferred Rs 46500 from his mother's bank account to the said beneficiary bank account. Having learnt about the fraud, the complainant contacted the bank and got his online banking stopped.
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He then raised a complaint on the cyber crime portal after which a case has been registered by Thane police in the matter recently. The police has registered a case under section 318 (cheating) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and sections 66C (identity theft), 66D (cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the Information Technology Act.
"Only use the Google Play Store or Apple App Store for banking apps. Look at the developer's name and app reviews before installing. Don't click on links from unknown emails, SMS, or social media. Add two-factor authentication for extra security on your bank account. Update your phone and apps to fix security issues," said a police officer.
