Ahmedabad : An 86-year-old retired professor from Satellite has alleged that cyberfraudsters siphoned off Rs 10.8 lakh from his bank accounts after a malicious APK file disguised as the mParivahan app was allegedly installed on his mobile phone. The fraud came to light after he received alerts about unauthorised transactions, prompting a complaint with the cybercrime police.
A preliminary inquiry revealed that an APK file bearing the name mParivahan had been received from an unknown number through a WhatsApp group, according to the complaint.
Pancholi told police that he could not recall whether he had downloaded the file, but the application appeared to have been installed on his phone. After registering complaints through the cybercrime helpline, Pancholi approached the cybercrime police and filed a formal complaint. Investigators are now probing how the APK file was installed on the victim’s phone and how fraudsters allegedly gained access to his banking credentials and transactions.
The victim, Sureshchandra Pancholi, a former economics professor and principal of Sahajanand College in Ambawadi, discovered the fraud on Oct 17 when he began receiving SMS alerts regarding transactions from his ICICI Bank account.
Investigation revealed that the funds were transferred to accounts in HDFC Bank, City Union Bank, and Airtel Payments Bank.