Man duped of Rs 2.7L through fake RTO challan on WhatsApp

Dehradun: An elderly man in Dehradun’s Basant Vihar area was duped of Rs 2.75 lakh by cyber fraudsters after opening an APK file named as RTO challan on WhatsApp.Police said that the incident occurred early last month when the complainant, a businessman, received a message from an account falsely named ‘M Parivahan’ mimicking the official transport ministry portal.Inspector Vinod Gusain said the complainant believed it to be a genuine traffic challan. “When he opened the file, he was immediately logged out of his WhatsApp. The fraudsters gained access to his confidential banking information and siphoned off Rs 2.7 lakh. He informed the cyber police station on April 26 and subsequently lodged a complaint at Basant Vihar police station on Friday,” said Gusain.He added that an FIR has been registered under sections 318 (4) (cheating) of BNS and provisions under the IT Act. “A probe has been launched to arrest the accused. We appeal to citizens not to open any suspicious messages, especially APK files received from unknown numbers on WhatsApp,” said Gusain.