A 36-year-old resident of Yousufguda was duped of ₹1.97 lakh in an APK scam after attempting to purchase groceries through a fraudulent website that appeared like Big Basket.
According to the complaint, the victim placed an order on September 30, after finding an online grocery site offering products at unusually low prices. Two days later, he received a call from a man claiming to represent Big Basket’s customer care department, who informed him of a “pending payment” and sent an APK file via WhatsApp for completing the transaction.
Believing it to be legitimate, the victim installed the file and paid ₹360. Shortly afterwards, he received an SMS alert about a substantial unauthorised debit from his credit card. Though he had not shared any OTP, the transaction was processed successfully.
Further checks revealed that call forwarding had been activated on his mobile phone without his consent, allowing fraudsters to intercept sensitive communications. In total, ₹1,97,497 was withdrawn from his account.
Following a complaint, the cyber crime wing of the Hyderabad police registered a case and launched an investigation to trace the fraudsters.
Meanwhile, authorities have urged people to exercise caution when making online purchases and to avoid downloading unknown applications or clicking on suspicious links shared over messaging platforms.
Published – October 07, 2025 06:36 pm IST
