Constable’s swift action saves pensioner from ₹5 lakh cyber fraud loss

A quick response by a city police constable helped a pensioner recover half of the ₹10 lakh he lost to a cyber fraud after he was tricked into installing a malicious mobile application disguised as a Punjab National Bank verification tool.

According to an officer from the Cyber Crime Police, Hyderabad, the incident occurred on November 4 when the pensioner searched on Google for Punjab National Bank’s contact number to submit his Life Certificate.

“He unknowingly contacted a fake number posted online by fraudsters posing as bank officials. They convinced him to install an APK file sent through WhatsApp, claiming it was needed for verification. Once installed, the file gave the scammers remote access to his mobile phone,” said the officer.

Soon after, the victim began receiving debit and OTP alerts. The malicious app had forwarded these OTPs to the fraudsters, allowing them to transfer ₹10 lakh from his account.

The pensioner then approached the Cyber Crime Police Station, where Police Constable N. Srikanth Naik, assisted him in filing a complaint through the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal.

Constable Naik identified and deleted the malware from the victim’s phone and traced the transactions, which had been routed through Razorpay to Slice Small Finance Bank Limited. He promptly sent a notice to Razorpay’s nodal officer, Harshavardhan Rao, who blocked ₹5 lakh of the stolen funds. The amount is now being processed for return to the victim.

Further investigation showed that the APK had permissions to read SMS and OTPs, allowing the scammers to log into the victim’s internet banking account without triggering fraud alerts. The fraudsters also tried to take control of the victim’s WhatsApp account to impersonate him and circulate the same malicious APK to others.

Officials advised citizens to verify bank contact details only from official websites, avoid downloading apps from unknown sources, and never share personal or banking details, including OTPs, with anyone claiming to be from a bank or government department.

The Cyber Crime Police said awareness and timely reporting can make all the difference in preventing financial losses from such online scams.