57-year-old auto-rickshaw driver from Maharashtra loses Rs 1 lakh to fake Mahanagar Gas officials

Thane: A 57-year-old auto-rickshaw driver from Naupada lost Rs 1 lakh to cyber fraudsters who posed as Mahanagar Gas representatives and tricked him into installing a malicious application on his smartphone, police said on Monday.

The victim, a resident of Panchpakhadi, filed a complaint at Naupada Police Station after discovering that a substantial sum had been quietly drained from his bank account without his knowledge or consent.

According to police, the fraud unfolded on the morning of Feb 28. The victim received a WhatsApp message from an unknown number purportedly regarding an outstanding Mahanagar Gas bill. The sender attached an apk file and pressured him into downloading and installing it on his device. Once it was installed, the accused gained remote access to his phone and transferred Rs 1 lakh into a third-party bank account. The victim realised he had been duped only after checking his bank account and noticing the missing funds. Police have registered a case under the BNS and the IT Act. "We are tracking the digital footprint of the numbers used and the bank account where the funds were transferred," police said. Police have warned citizens against installing unknown APK files received via WhatsApp or SMS, as such files are commonly used to deploy malware.