Hyderabad | Retired Military officer loses ₹1.2 lakh in 10 minutes after downloading APK file to pay visitors challan

A 49-year-old retired Lieutenant Colonel of the Indian Military misplaced over ₹1.2 lakh after unknowingly putting in a malicious cell software disguised as an official visitors superb notification.

On July 6, 2025, the retired officer in Hyderabad acquired a message by way of WhatsApp containing an APK file ‘e-parivahan.apk’. The message claimed to be from an official visitors enforcement company and alleged that his automobile had violated visitors guidelines, requiring a direct fee of ₹1,000. Believing the message to be legit and assuming he could have unknowingly dedicated a violation, the sufferer downloaded and put in the file on his telephone.

Inside minutes of putting in it, between 7.15 p.m. and seven.25 p.m., the sufferer observed two unauthorised transactions on his SBI bank card – ₹60,104 via Amazon Pay India Pvt Ltd and ₹60,305 by way of Amazon.in, leading to a complete lack of ₹1,20,409. The fraudulent purchases had been made with out his information or consent, by stealing delicate financial institution info via the APK file.

A case was booked by the cybercrime wing of the Hyderabad police and an investigation initiated. Following the incident, the police issued a public advisory urging residents to stay cautious about suspicious messages demanding fee of visitors fines by way of exterior apps or hyperlinks.

Authorities don’t flow into APK recordsdata

Authorities clarified that authorities businesses, together with the Transport Division, don’t flow into APK recordsdata for enforcement or to gather fines. Residents had been suggested to chorus from downloading such recordsdata from unverified sources and as a substitute test the official Transport Division or visitors police web sites to confirm any such claims.

Helpline to report cybercrime

Victims of cyber fraud can contact the nationwide cybercrime helpline at 1930 or file complaints at cybercrime.gov.in. For rapid help, Hyderabad residents might also attain out to the cybercrime police at 8712665171 by way of name or WhatsApp.