Two lose over ₹6 lakh in APK fraud

Two residents of Kavadiguda fell victim to a malicious APK file fraud, resulting in a combined loss of more than ₹6 lakh through unauthorised bank transactions.

According to police, the incidents were reported on August 24 and 30. In the first case, a 48-year-old man received an APK file on WhatsApp titled ‘RTO CHALLAN’. Mistaking it for an official document, he opened the file, after which unauthorised debits of ₹51,226 from a loan account and ₹50,000 from his provident fund account were carried out, causing a loss of ₹1,01,226.

In the second case, a 41-year-old man discovered that ₹5 lakh had been siphoned from his HDFC Bank account through four transactions. Investigators later found that an APK file named “RTA CHALLAN 140.apk” had been installed on his mobile phone without his knowledge.

Both victims’ phones are suspected to have been compromised by the malicious files, enabling cyber fraudsters to gain access to sensitive financial details.

Meanwhile, the police urged people not to download or install suspicious APK files received through messaging platforms. They appealed to media outlets to issue advisories warning citizens against such frauds, stressing that official agencies do not share challans or documents via unauthorised mobile applications.