Rajkot: A 33-year-old packaging film trader from Rajkot allegedly lost Rs 8.1 lakh after he opened an APK file link sent through WhatsApp by a person posing as a “motor manager” and displaying the trader’s actual vehicle number.The complainant, Vimal Chaniyara, told police that he received the WhatsApp message on July 28 from an unknown international number. The message contained a link to an APK file titled “NextGen_mParivan.apk”.Seeing his own vehicle details, Chaniyara believed the message was related to a process or information about his vehicle and opened the link. He closed it shortly afterwards when he received another phone call.The next day, however, he began receiving around 50 to 60 promotional and OTP-related messages on his mobile phone. He soon received alerts about money being debited from his bank accounts. On checking his accounts, he found that multiple transactions had been carried out without his knowledge.According to the complaint, Rs 6,14,579 was withdrawn from his two bank accounts. He later discovered that transactions worth another Rs 1,98,000 had been carried out on his YES BANK credit card without his consent, taking his total loss to Rs 8,12,579.Chaniyara immediately contacted the cybercrime helpline 1930 and reported the unauthorised transactions. The complaint was initially registered at Gandhigram-2 police station before both incidents were transferred to the Cybercrime police station as they involved the same mobile phone, suspicious link and financial activity.Police registered a case against the holder of the WhatsApp number, bank account holders involved in the transactions and others who may be identified during the investigation.Cybercrime PI S D Phultariya said investigators were tracing the money trail and examining digital evidence, banking records, the complainant’s mobile phone and the technical details of the APK link.
