Gujarat Man Loses Rs 6,00,000 In 'APK' Fraud, Jharkhand-Based Gang Arrested

Ahmedabad City Cyber Crime Branch has busted a notorious Jamtara-based cyber fraud gang that triggered nationwide panic by compromising mobile phones through malicious APK files. Operating under the guidance of top police officials, a specialised team analysed multiple online complaints registered via the 1930 helpline and mapped the syndicate's modus operandi, leading to a coordinated crackdown.

The breakthrough came after Naresh Devanand Sabnani, a resident of Hansol, Ahmedabad, filed a complaint detailing how he lost Rs 6,68,914. Fraudsters sent him a WhatsApp message disguised as a notice from Sabarmati Gas Limited, warning that his gas connection would be disconnected unless his bill was updated immediately. 

Posing as company officials, they manipulated him into downloading a fraudulent application named Sabarmati Gas Bill Update.apk. Once installed, the suspects gained unauthorised remote access to his device and illicitly transferred funds from his HDFC bank account.

Following intense technical analysis, cybercrime officials tracked down the key orchestrators of the operation. 

The main APK developer, Purnanand alias Mukesh Tiwari, was dramatically arrested from a moving train traveling from Kolkata to Sairang, with assistance from the Railway Protection Force. Two other crucial operatives, Vikas Das, who supplied the malicious links to nearly 400 people, and Sitaram Mandal, who provided debit and credit card details to siphon off the stolen money, were also arrested in Jharkhand.

Investigations revealed a highly organised chain reaction system where the gang automated the creation of fake apps - ranging from prominent bank KYC updates to electricity bills and RTO notices - using a private Telegram bot channel. Once a target's phone was infected, the malicious app secretly scraped banking IDs, passwords, and OTPs while automatically sending the same infected link to all contacts in the victim's WhatsApp and Telegram groups. This enabled the fraud to spread exponentially across thousands of users within days, while the gang laundered the profits through SBI's YONO cash cardless ATM withdrawal feature to leave no digital footprint.