Mumbai: 65-Year-Old Duped of ₹7.6 Lakh Through Fake ‘RTO Challan’ App in Malad

A 65-year-old senior citizen from Malad has been defrauded of ₹7.60 lakh by an unknown cyber fraudster who allegedly gained access to his mobile phone through a fake RTO Challan application. Police have registered an FIR under cheating and relevant sections of the IT Act and launched a probe.

According to the complaint, the victim, a retired resident of Malad, lives with his family while his son runs a private business. The senior citizen had downloaded an app named RTO Challan on his mobile phone. On November 24, he purchased a car from an individual and later forwarded a message to his son on WhatsApp asking him to pay a challan amount of ₹2,000. His son used the RTO Challan app on the victim’s phone to make this payment.

However, the next day, the ₹2,000 was refunded to their bank account. On November 26, around 10:30 am, the senior citizen received multiple SMS alerts from his bank. One message stated that ₹4.90 lakh had been debited from his account via NEFT. While he was still processing this, another message arrived informing him that an additional ₹1.70 lakh had been debited.

Sensing something suspicious, he immediately informed his son. The son then rushed to the bank and reported that these transactions had not been authorised by them. In total, ₹7.60 lakh had been fraudulently withdrawn. The bank account was subsequently frozen to prevent further loss.

Following the incident, the victim filed a complaint on the cyber portal as well as at the Malad police station. Police have registered a case against an unknown cyber fraudster for cheating and under various sections of the IT Act.

Preliminary investigations reveal that the fraudster may have gained access to the victim’s phone through the RTO Challan app—linked to a person named Kamlesh Choksi—and used this access to carry out the online theft.