Malicious files wipes 6L from Gondal trader’s accounts

Rajkot: A 60-year-old businessman from Gondal in Rajkot district lost Rs 5.95 lakh to a cyber fraud after he opened a malicious mobile application disguised as an RTO e-challan. An FIR has been registered at the Rajkot Range Cyber Crime police station against an unknown accused.The victim, Bharat Ahya, who lives in the Marwadi Mill Compound area and runs a firm at the Gondal marketing yard, said the episode began on Jan 24 when he received an application file named "RTO E Challan 500.apk" on WhatsApp from an unknown number. When he opened the file, a dialogue box asked him to enter his mother's name in English. Suspicious of the request, he deleted the file at once. But the malware had already infected his phone. Later that day, a relative told his son that someone was calling from Ahya's number and speaking in Hindi. Ahya and his son then found that call-forwarding had been activated without his knowledge, which they disabled. A week later, on Jan 31, Ahya began receiving text alerts for debits from his bank accounts. Before he could ask the bank to freeze his accounts, seven transactions were carried out across his savings, current and cash credit accounts, draining Rs 5.95 lakh. Realizing his phone had been hacked, Ahya called the national cybercrime helpline. Based on his online complaint and the bank's findings, an FIR was filed under Section 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Section 66-D of the Information Technology Act. Police have urged people to avoid downloading unknown "apk" files or clicking on unverified links sent through messaging platforms.