KOCHI: Beware! Cyber fraudsters are devising innovative methods to deceive gullible people. Their latest tactic: Crafting fake banking apps that eerily resemble genuine ones. Recently, a woman from Kalamassery fell prey to this ruse and lost Rs 9.3 lakh due to unauthorised transactions on her debit and credit cards after installing a fake banking app.
According to the police, the victim had been an ICICI Bank account holder for several years. This month, she received a call from someone claiming to be a bank official. The caller informed her about a new banking app and its benefits.
“Subsequently, the victim received an SMS containing a link to an app named ICICIbank.apk. Trusting its legitimacy, she installed the app by clicking on the link. The installed app appeared to have all her online banking account features,” explained a police officer.
It wasn’t until a week later that the woman realised she had been deceived. She began receiving notifications of unauthorised transactions made through her debit and credit cards.
Nearly Rs 5 lakh had been deducted from her debit card, and five transactions totalling Rs 4.3 lakh were made from her credit card.
“The app the victim installed was fake; it was a remote screen-sharing app. Using this app, the perpetrators accessed her debit and credit card details, including PINs and OTPs,” said the officer.
‘Public should be cautious against fake banking apps’
Advocate Jiyas Jamal, a cyber law expert and founder of Cybersuraksha Foundation, said there has been an increase in incidents of cyber fraud involving fake banking apps. “A few weeks ago, one of my clients was approached by a person claiming to be a representative of a leading bank while shopping at a mall in Palakkad.
The person asked my client to download a bank app via a link to get more benefits. It was a fake app, and the victim lost money from the card. We have approached the police with a complaint,” he said.
“Several banks across India have recently issued warnings to their customers about fake apps developed by cyber fraudsters. These apps, identified by the APK extension, are not available on Google’s PlayStore or Apple’s App Store. The public should be cautious when prompted to install apps that are not available in these official stores,” the police officer added.
According to Jamal, the public should only download banking apps from the official websites of banks. “People must download the apps through official bank websites and verified app stores,” he said .
In the Kalamassery incident, the police have filed a case against unidentified individuals for criminal breach of trust, cheating, and impersonation. They have begun efforts to trace the transactions and initiated the process of reversing them to ensure the victim receives a refund.