A wedding invitation that arrived on WhatsApp from what appeared to be a friend’s number has cost a senior Karnataka Forest Department official nearly ₹9.96 lakh, in a case that illustrates how cybercriminals are increasingly weaponising ordinary social messages rather than obviously suspicious ones. Police say the victim downloaded and opened a malicious APK file disguised as a digital wedding card, unwittingly handing fraudsters control of his phone and, within minutes, access to his bank account.
An Invitation That Looked Personal
Police identified the victim as Rameshbabu V, 50, a Deputy Range Forest Officer and resident of Yeshwanthpur. According to his complaint, he received the WhatsApp message on the evening of July 13, apparently sent from a friend’s number and framed as an engagement invitation. He noticed it only the following afternoon and, seeing it came from someone he knew and referenced a familiar occasion, opened the attached file without suspicion.
Investigators said the consequences were near-instantaneous. Between 4:40 pm and 4:55 pm, Rameshbabu began receiving a rapid succession of bank transaction alerts. By the time he checked his account, ₹9,96,659 had already been moved out of his Bank of Baroda account across multiple unauthorised transactions, and every UPI ID linked to his phone had been deleted, a detail investigators say points to a deliberate attempt to disable his ability to quickly track or block further activity. He filed a complaint at the North CEN Crime Police Station the next day, and a case has been registered under the Information Technology Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Not an Isolated Incident
This is not the first time the tactic has surfaced in Bengaluru. In May 2026, a 42-year-old furniture shop owner lost roughly ₹5 lakh after opening a nearly identical fake wedding invitation APK, also received from what looked like a known contact’s number, suggesting the same or a closely related fraud network may be recycling the technique across victims. Police believe the emotional pull of a wedding invitation, particularly one appearing to come from someone the recipient knows, makes people far less cautious than they would be with an unfamiliar link or an obviously suspicious message.
A Rapidly Growing Category of Fraud
Karnataka Police data shows just how quickly APK-based fraud has expanded statewide. Roughly 325 cases were recorded in 2024, rising sharply to 944 in 2025, and by April 2026 alone authorities had already logged 458 cases, a pace that, if sustained, would substantially exceed the previous year’s total well before its end. Investigators say fraudsters cycle through a rotating set of disguises beyond wedding invitations, including fake PM Kisan beneficiary notices, India Post delivery updates, RTO traffic challans, income tax refund alerts, part-time job offers purportedly from Amazon, and bogus PAN-KYC verification requests, all designed to exploit routine anxieties or expectations rather than obvious greed.
Why These Files Are So Dangerous
According to Prof Triveni Singh, a renowned cybercrime expert and former IPS officer, an APK file is not a passive document but a full application installer capable of requesting extensive device permissions once installed. If sourced from an untrusted sender, it can grant attackers access to banking credentials, OTPs, messages and other sensitive data stored on the phone, effectively handing over the same level of control a user has themselves. He advised the public never to download APK files, links or applications from unknown contacts, however familiar or legitimate the message may appear. Should such a file be installed accidentally and suspicious banking activity follow, he said users should immediately alert their bank, disconnect the device from the internet, and report the matter to the cyber police without delay, since prompt action significantly improves the odds of freezing transactions and recovering stolen funds.
