Mumbai: The West cyber police arrested a 28-year-old Delhi resident, Sajid Ali, in connection with his alleged role in APK (Android Package Kit) file cyber fraud cases, police said.Police said Sajid Ali prepared the APK files that were used in many cyber crimes. Investigators found 257 APK files in the previously arrested accused’s electronic devices. Sajid is pursuing his Master’’ in Computer Applications.“More than 100 APK files were prepared by Sajid, who sold them to the other arrested accused. We have found these files on his laptop. Data obtained from Saji’s laptop matches around 3,000 complaints lodged in the national cybercrime reporting portal (NCCRP), and the money involved in these cases is Rs 42 crore. All the accused have involvement in around 60 FIRs filed in Mumbai,” said a police source.A team comprising senior inspector Suvarna Shinde, API Nitin Gacche and sub-inspector Vijay Ghorpade arrested three accused in April. They were Arif Ansari (28), Mehboob Alam (26) and Bilal Shaikh (28), all residents of Giridih district in Jharkhand. While Ansari studied till Class 10 and worked in a restaurant, Alam and Shaikh were Class 8 dropouts. Alam worked as a cook at a restaurant while Shaikh ran an auto and worked part-time as a tailor.Sajid is a web developer. He had posted an advertisement on his social media account asking people to contact him if they wanted to make a website or a mobile app. After reading this advertisement, Ansari contacted him two years ago.“Ansari bought APK files for around Rs 2,500 each from Sajid. He then sold the APK files online for Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 each, depending upon the customers, said a source. Besides this, Ansari, Alam and Shaikh made some changes in the APK files prepared by Sajid and sold them too.The complainant told police that he lost Rs 2.3 lakh after he received an APK file on WhatsApp, where the accused asked him to fill in the details to update his Mahanagar Gas Limited connection bill details. Police said the accused persons prepared fake APK files in the name of Mahanagar Gas Limited, RTO, Mahavitaran, PM Kisan Yojana, different banks, IGL bill, BSES bill updates, Vyom, Tata Power, etc. These APK files were used to cheat people. On April 29, the server of the APK files was shut down by the service provider.The arrested accused are allegedly involved in 25 fake APK file fraud cases registered with the Mumbai cyber police stations and in 35 cases registered with the local police stations. Police from Thane, Navi Mumbai, Telangana, Kerala, and other places contacted the Mumbai police to collect information about these accused.
