In a shocking case of cyber fraud, an unknown fraudster duped a judicial officer from the Small Causes Court in the Tardeo area by sending a malicious APK file under the guise of a customer support app. The Tardeo Police have registered a case under cheating and relevant sections of the IT Act and have launched a search for the accused.
According to police sources, the 46-year-old complainant, who resides in Tardeo and is currently serving as a judge in the Small Causes Court, fell victim to the scam while attempting to lodge a complaint regarding his mobile phone display.
The incident occurred on Monday afternoon when the judge noticed a pink line appearing on his phone screen. In order to contact the mobile company’s customer care, he searched for a contact number on Google. He found a number and tried calling it, but the line remained busy.
After some time, he received a call from another number. The caller claimed to be a representative of the mobile company’s customer support team. Gaining the victim’s trust, the fraudster assured him that the display issue would be resolved and advised him to register a complaint online.
The fraudster then sent an APK file, asking the complainant to download a customer support application. After installing the app and registering his complaint, the victim was instructed to pay a nominal fee of ₹10. While making the payment, he accidentally transferred ₹10 twice.
Later, upon returning home, the complainant checked his Google Pay account and discovered that ₹90,000 and ₹3,000 — totalling ₹93,000 — had been debited from his bank account without his knowledge.
Police investigation revealed that the money was transferred to a bank account in the name of one Pappu Sachin Yadav. It is suspected that the APK file enabled the accuet to hack the victim’s phone and gain access to sensitive banking information.
Upon realising the fraud, the victim immediately contacted the cyber helpline and lodged a complaint with the Tardeo Police. After preliminary verification, the police registered an FIR against the unknown accused and initiated further investigation.