Mumbai: A retired IT professional from Santacruz, who often spread awareness about cyber fraud, was duped of around Rs 2.5 lakh after a caller posing as a Tata Power official contacted him to verify his recent electricity connection name change request.
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The fraud began with what appeared to be a verification call. The caller shared accurate details, gained the victim’s trust and asked him to install an APK file for e-KYC. Soon after, money was withdrawn and an instant loan was triggered, with the funds later used to pay credit card bills.
Fake e-KYC Call Used to Gain Trust
The caller allegedly presented the interaction as part of a verification process linked to the victim’s electricity connection name change request. By using accurate details, the fraudster was able to make the communication appear genuine and persuade the victim to follow instructions.
The installation of the APK file appears to have played a central role in the fraud. Once the file was installed, the victim suffered financial loss through withdrawals and an instant loan transaction.
Cyber-Aware Retiree Falls Victim to APK Fraud
The case is notable because the victim was a retired IT professional. Despite that awareness, the fraudster was able to exploit trust, urgency and personal data to execute the scam.
The incident points to the growing sophistication of fraud attempts in which criminals no longer rely only on random calls or vague threats. Instead, they use specific personal details to make calls sound credible and push victims into installing malicious files.
Privacy and WhatsApp Safety Risks
It highlights several privacy measures for WhatsApp users, including silencing unknown callers, restricting messages from unknown accounts, limiting group additions to contacts only and restricting last seen, profile photo and about information to contacts.
It is further advised to enable two-step verification through a 2FA PIN, disabling link previews to reduce metadata exposure and enabling IP address protection in calls to prevent network tracking and location inference by fraudsters.
