Rs 20 Payment, File Download: How Mumbai Judge Lost Rs 93,000 To Fake App Scam

A Mumbai judge lost around Rs 93,000 to cyber criminals posing as customer care representatives who contcted him through a fake customer care application.

The Mumbai city court judge noticed an issue with his phone's screen on March 30, leading him to contact a number listed online as customer care service. The 46-year-old was then connected to a fraudster posing as a customer support executive.

Per the Mumbai Police, the accused sent an APK file to the judge via WhatsApp and instructed him to download it. The judge was also asked to pay a nominal fee of Rs 20 through Google Pay as reigstration.

The judge went ahead with the payment, allowed the fraudster remote access to his mobile device and banking information. Soon, two unauthorised transactions amounting to Rs 93,000 were made from the judge's State Bank of India (SBI) account.

On seeing the deduction messages, the victim understood that he was targeted by cyber criminals and contacted the police.

The Mumbai Police registered a First Information Report (FIR) at the Tardeo Police Station against an unidentified accused, and an investigation is currently underway.

On the same day, a 25-year-old man was arrested from Jharkhand for allegedly duping a Bombay High Court judge of Rs 6.02 lakh in a cyber fraud case. The accused was connected to at least 36 cyber fraud cases across 10 states, per investigators.

In another shocking case, a 69-year-old retired senior officer from Mumbai was reportedly placed under "digital arrest" for 25 days and defrauded of Rs 1.57 crore in December last year. Fraudsters posed as police and court officials and even staged a mock court hearing via video call, invoking the name of a former Supreme Court judge to intimidate the victim. Acting on the complaint, the Mumbai Police Cyber Cell arrested an auto-rickshaw driver, Ashok Pal, who allegedly allowed the accused to route the defrauded money through his bank account in exchange for a commission.