Khar College Trustee Duped of Rs 6.7 Lakh in APK Credit Card Scam
A 70-year-old college trustee residing in Khar was duped of Rs 6.7 lakh on Saturday after downloading a fraudulent APK file sent by a cybercriminal posing as a bank representative. The Khar police registered an official case on Sunday following a complaint submitted by the victim, KM Raju.
According to police officials, the fraud began when Raju received a phone call from an unknown person who claimed to be a tele-caller working for a bank’s credit card division. The caller presented an offer for an exclusive, super-premium credit card that was purportedly available strictly by invitation. The caller explained the card's features and specified that it carried an annual and joining fee of Rs 12,500 plus applicable taxes.
The complainant, who had been actively looking for a premium credit card, accepted the proposal and agreed to complete the paperwork. To process the application, the scammer instructed Raju to download an application package (APK) file sent directly to him via WhatsApp in the name of the bank.
Once the trustee installed the APK file on his smartphone, the cyber fraudster gained unauthorized remote access to the device. Shortly after the installation, the complainant’s mobile phone automatically shut down, preventing him from monitoring real-time alerts or activity on his handset.
During this period of compromised access, the scammer carried out eight unauthorized financial transactions within the span of one hour. The siphoned money was drawn from bank accounts belonging to Raju, his wife, his sister, and his daughter. Police clarified that the funds were drained across these family members because they operated joint family accounts linked to the compromised banking credentials.
After realizing he had fallen victim to a scam, Raju contacted the national cybercrime helpline number 1930 to flag the illicit transactions and initiate immediate blocking procedures. Following the registration of the complaint, the Khar police alerted the bank’s nodal officer to freeze the destination accounts to which the stolen money was credited.
