Mumbai bank official loses Rs 4.27 lakh in cyber fraud after fake RTO challan APK

Mumbai Police on Wednesday launched an investigation into a suspected cyber fraud case in which a nationalised bankrsquos senior official allegedly lost Rs 427 lakh through unauthorised credit card transactions As per IANS investigators suspect that the fraud may have started after the victimrsquos personal secretary connected his mobile phone to the free public WiFi network at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus CSMT in MumbaiAccording to police cybercriminals may have gained access to the personal secretaryrsquos mobile phone and later used the compromised device to spread a malicious Android application package APK file disguised as a Regional Transport Office RTO traffic challanThe fake application was reportedly sent to several people in the phonersquos contact list including senior bank officialsFIR registered against the accusedThe MRA Marg police have registered a First Information Report FIR and are investigating whether the mobile device was infected through the public WiFi network a fake hotspot imitating the genuine network or through another method used by cybercriminalsHow the accused foiled a cyber trapPolice officials while highlighting the incident said that the complainant 56yearold Gobinda Biswas a resident of Bhakti Park in Wadala and general manager at a nationalised bank office in Fort received a message on July 18 from his personal secretary Narayan Swami The message appeared to be an official RTO challan and contained an APK fileBefore sending the message Swami had connected his mobile phone to the free WiFi service available at CSMT police said After the device was allegedly compromised the malicious file was automatically forwarded through messaging applications to more than 200 contacts saved on the phoneBelieving the message to be a genuine traffic challan Biswas downloaded and installed the application Police suspect that the malware then gained access to sensitive information stored on his device including data that could have been misused for financial fraudTampered APK file continued to spread malicious files to contactsInvestigators believe the infected application continued spreading the malicious file to additional contacts On July 21 Biswas noticed unusual activity on his phone and deleted the application However police suspect that the malware had already accessed important information before removalPolice said ldquoBiswas did not receive any SMS alerts regarding the suspicious credit card transactions The fraud came to light on August 3 when he received his credit card statementrdquoThey also added ldquoThe complaint stated that five unauthorised transactions amounting to Rs 427264 were carried out within just 28 minutes on July 21 as per IANSThe bankrsquos credit card department later attempted to contact the customer several times After the transactions were found suspicious and communication could not be established the credit card was blocked police saidBiswas subsequently filed a complaint on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal and approached MRA Marg police An FIR was registered on August 4 in connection with the suspected cybercrimeA Mumbai Police official said ldquoThe investigation is underway to identify the source of the malware and determine the exact method used by the accused to gain access to the mobile devicerdquo as cited by IANSCyber experts urge citizens to remain alertCitizens should remain cautious while connecting to public WiFi networks and should avoid installing applications received from unknown sources Mumbai Police cautionedCyber experts have repeatedly warned that attackers can use fake applications phishing messages and unsafe public networks to steal personal and financial information Police have advised citizens to verify links and applications before downloading them and to avoid sharing sensitive banking details through suspicious platformsWith inputs from IANS