Pune: A cybercrook posing as an official of a piped gas company allegedly duped a 65-year-old resident from Tathwade of Rs2.8 lakh by tricking him into download an APK file under the pretext of updating his gas connection.The fraud took place on Sept 1, and the victim lodged a complaint with Wakad police on Saturday.An officer from the Wakad police said the senior citizen received a message on his cellphone on Sept 1, stating that his piped gas connection needed to be updated. “When he contacted the number mentioned in the message, a person posing as a manager sent him a link and asked him to fill in his details. This downloaded an APK file onto the phone. The person then asked him to pay Rs7 to continue the gas connection. The complainant followed the instructions and tried to transfer Rs7, but the transaction did not go through.”The complainant became suspicious and checked his bank account, only to find that Rs3.24 lakh had been siphoned off. He lodged an online complaint, following which Rs45,000 was blocked. “The crooks gained access to the complainant’s bank account through the APK file. We have sought details of the transactions from his bank,” the officer said.
