Ahmedabad : A 35-year-old tax advocate was allegedly duped of Rs 5.7 lakh by cyberfraudsters who tricked her into installing a malicious mobile application on the pretext of issuing a senior citizen debit card to her father.
The woman, who runs a tax law firm in Nehrunagar, lodged a complaint with the Cybercrime police on Nov 4. On Nov 1, a man called her father claiming he could help him obtain a senior citizen debit card, according to the complaint. Police said six transactions were carried out from three Kotak Mahindra Bank accounts belonging to the woman and her parents, resulting in a total loss of Rs 5,65,345. She subsequently reported the fraud through the cybercrime helpline 1930.
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When she questioned this, she was told it was required to facilitate delivery of the debit card. The fraud affected not only her bank account but also those of her parents, as all three accounts were linked to her mobile number. He sent a file named ‘BOB Bank Senior Citizen Verification.apk’ on WhatsApp and asked him to install it. When the installation failed, the caller obtained the woman’s mobile number and sent another file named ‘Kotak Mahindra Bank Senior Citizen.apk’. The woman installed the application and entered her mobile number, name and customer ID in a form that appeared on her phone. The caller remained connected with her father through a WhatsApp video call and instructed her to share her phone screen. Soon after she shared the screen, several OTP messages were delivered to her phone. The caller allegedly claimed these were part of the verification process. She also received alerts indicating that call forwarding had been activated. Growing suspicious, she switched off her phone. However, after turning it back on, she found debit alerts for transactions she had not authorised. Download the TOI App.