Man held for creating app to gain mobile access, scam users

Once installed, the app allegedly provided full remote access to the victim’s device, allowing multiple unauthorised digital transactions, police said.

New Delhi: Delhi Police have arrested a 26-year-old man from Jamtara in Jharkhand for allegedly developing and supplying a malicious “customer support” Android application that enabled cybercriminals to take remote control of victims’ mobile phones, they said on Thursday.

The man was arrested from Jamtara in Jharkhand (Representative photo)

Deputy commissioner of police (central) Nidhin Valsan said that the arrest came after a Minto Road resident reported on July 29 that he had been duped of ₹1.20 lakh. The caller, posing as an electricity department official, warned that his power connection would be cut and convinced him to install an application (APK file) sent over the phone. Once installed, the app allegedly provided full remote access to the victim’s device, allowing multiple unauthorised digital transactions, police said.

Police said that a case under Section 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita was registered and a team began analysing the backend architecture of the APK file. “Investigators found it to be a Fully Undetected (FUD) Customer Support APK, a tool increasingly used in scams linked to remote-access exploitation,” DCP said.

Technical surveillance, IP log tracing and scrutiny of digital money trails eventually pointed to Umesh Kumar Rajak, a Deoghar-based tech operator who police said customised and sold such APKs to cyber fraud networks for ₹15,000 each, police said.

Rajak, who holds a BA in political science and also installs CCTV systems for work, was arrested on December 5 in a raid in Deoghar. “Three high-end Android phones and digital evidence, including logs and chats detailing APK distribution, were recovered,” Valsan said.

Police said Rajak regularly updated the malware to evade antivirus systems. He is also named in two earlier cheating cases - one in Mumbai reported in 2024 and another with the Cyber CID in Ranchi.

Police said that they are now tracking others who purchased the APK and analysing seized data to identify additional victims and wider linkages to organised cyber-fraud modules.