A 42-year-old private company employee in Bengaluru lost ₹70,000 to a 'fake traffic challan' scam after clicking on a malicious APK file. The victim, Hari Krishnan, a resident of Singasandra in southeast Bengaluru, reported the incident to the Electronics City police.
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Here is how the scam unfolded
According to a report in The Times of India, the victim received a WhatsApp message from the number 8318732950 on January 19, claiming he had violated traffic rules. The message included a receipt stating, "Your vehicle traffic ticket bearing no KA46894230933070073," and instructed him to pay the fine by downloading the 'Vahan Parivahan' app via a link provided in the message.
Despite receiving a warning that the file was risky, Krishnan proceeded to download it. Soon after, he began receiving multiple OTP messages, indicating his phone had been compromised. He later noticed unauthorized transactions amounting to ₹70,000 made from his credit card to an e-commerce platform.
Additionally, Krishnan’s wife also started receiving messages about attempted transactions from her bank account, as some of her applications were linked to his mobile number. Fortunately, the scammers were unable to withdraw money from her account.
{{/usCountry}}Additionally, Krishnan’s wife also started receiving messages about attempted transactions from her bank account, as some of her applications were linked to his mobile number. Fortunately, the scammers were unable to withdraw money from her account.
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Realizing the fraud, Krishnan immediately contacted his bank to block the transaction and reported the issue to the cyber helpline on the same day. On January 29, he officially lodged a complaint with the police. A senior police officer confirmed that a case had been registered under the Information Technology Act and Section 318 (cheating) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The officer also advised the public to avoid downloading APK files from unknown sources.
In a similar scam reported earlier, a 60-year-old techie from Bengaluru’s Whitefield was swindled out of ₹2.8 crore by fraudsters posing as bank officials. The scammers lured him with a smartphone as a ‘gift,’ which was pre-installed with a cloning app and other malicious software. Once activated, the device allowed the fraudsters to take full control of his phone, change the mobile number linked to his bank account, and gain unauthorized access. Using this control, they siphoned off his entire fixed deposit amount.
Authorities have urged people to remain vigilant against such cyber frauds and refrain from clicking on suspicious links or downloading unverified applications.