Ahmedabad: Nikol woman duped of Rs 7L via fake KYC link

Ahmedabad: A 37-year-old homemaker from Nikol was allegedly duped of Rs 7.5 lakh after cyberfraudsters sent her a fake KYC update message on WhatsApp and gained unauthorised access to her bank account, according to a complaint filed with the Cybercrime Police.

The complainant told police that she received a WhatsApp message from an unknown number on May 19. The message contained a forged KYC update notice along with an APK file titled “Pan Card Update.apk”. It claimed that her bank account would be suspended unless Aadhaar and PAN details were updated through the application.

Though the message was initially ignored, the APK file was later downloaded onto her mobile phone. A few days later, on May 24, she and her husband noticed multiple debit alerts and OTP messages on her phone despite neither of them carrying out any banking transactions.

Suspecting foul play, they approached authorities and contacted the national cybercrime helpline. While attempting to access the victim’s netbanking account to obtain transaction details, they found that the registered email address linked to the account had been changed without their knowledge.

Further inquiries revealed that an unknown Gmail account had been linked to the bank account. After obtaining the account statement, the family discovered that seven unauthorised transactions had been carried out on May 23.

The transactions included transfers of Rs 1.8 lakh, Rs 1.9 lakh, Rs 49,500, Rs 1.2 lakh, Rs 25,000, Rs 25,000 and Rs 1.5 lakh, taking the total amount siphoned off to Rs 7,46,502.

According to the complaint, the fraudsters allegedly posed as banking officials, used the malicious application to gain access to the victim’s mobile device, stole account credentials and intercepted OTPs before transferring money to multiple beneficiary accounts.

The victim subsequently blocked her account and debit card and registered a complaint through the cybercrime helpline. A formal complaint was lodged on June 6.

Police have launched an investigation to identify those behind the WhatsApp number, the altered email account, and the accounts that received the fraudulently transferred funds.