A woman looking to book a doctor’s appointment for a relative was allegedly duped of ₹2.53 lakh after cyber fraudsters got her to download a fake hospital-service application and attempt a ₹5 payment, police said.
Ashiana police said an FIR has been registered on the basis of her complaint and an investigation is underway.
The incident took place on August 29 when Ruchi Sehgal, a resident of Sector-N, Ashiana, tried to book an appointment at Health City Hospital in Gomti Nagar for her 68-year-old relative, Kiran Tandon.
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Appointment assistance leads to cyber fraud
According to her complaint, Sehgal received a call from her relative Pran Tandon around 8am, asking her to contact a mobile number for the appointment. When she called the number, the person on the other end allegedly asked her to download an application named ‘hospital service.apk’.
After installing the application, the caller allegedly asked Sehgal to enter the patient’s details and then make an online payment of ₹5. She tried making the payment through Google Pay linked to her ICICI Bank account, but the transaction failed.
{{/usCountry}}After installing the application, the caller allegedly asked Sehgal to enter the patient’s details and then make an online payment of ₹5. She tried making the payment through Google Pay linked to her ICICI Bank account, but the transaction failed.
{{/usCountry}}The fraudster then allegedly asked her to call another number and keep the phone on hold. Sehgal remained on the call for around five minutes before becoming suspicious and disconnecting.
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Two unauthorised transactions drain ₹2.53 lakh
She checked the SMS alerts on her phone and found that two unauthorised transactions of ₹1,26,900 each had been made using her ICICI Bank credit card. She had lost ₹2,53,800 in the two transactions.
Sehgal immediately contacted the cybercrime helpline 1930 and reported the incident.
Police officials have repeatedly cautioned people against downloading APK files shared by unknown callers. Such files can potentially give fraudsters access to sensitive information or facilitate unauthorised transactions.
Police have also advised people to verify hospital appointment numbers only through the hospital’s official channels and avoid making even small payments through links or applications sent by strangers.