Ahmedabad Trader’s Family Loses ₹11.53 Lakh In Fake Adani Gas Meter Update Scam
Summarized by AI; it may make mistakes. Check important info
Summarized by AI; it may make mistakes. Check important info
A 32-year-old garment wholesaler and his family lost ₹11.53 lakh after cyber fraudsters allegedly posed as Adani Gas representatives, sent a fake APK file for a supposed meter update and gained access to the victim’s mobile phone.
The incident took place in Ahmedabad, where the Cyber Crime Police have registered a case and launched an investigation into the fraud.
Fake Gas Disconnection Message Sent On WhatsApp
The victim, Rishitbhai, lives in the Law Garden area and runs a kurti wholesale business at Sumel Business Park-2 on Kankaria Road.
On September 26, his elder brother, Vivekbhai, received a message from an unknown number claiming that their Adani Gas connection would be disconnected at 10:30 pm because the previous month’s meter reading had not been updated.
After receiving a screenshot of the message from his brother, Rishitbhai contacted the number mentioned in it.
A man speaking in Hindi and identifying himself as Divesh allegedly told him that the meter needed to be updated to avoid excessive billing. He then asked Rishitbhai to download an application and sent a file named ‘Adani Gas Bill Update.apk’ through WhatsApp.
₹10 Payment Prompt Raised Suspicion
Rishitbhai installed the APK and granted it location and notification permissions. He entered his father’s name, registered mobile number and customer ID as instructed.
However, when the application asked him to make a payment of ₹10, he became suspicious and exited the application.
He then disabled call forwarding on his phone and deleted the application.
By that time, the fraudsters had allegedly already gained access to the device.
₹11.53 Lakh Taken From Five Accounts
Within around half an hour, Rishitbhai started receiving multiple OTPs.
Between September 26 and 27, the fraudsters allegedly carried out several transactions totalling ₹11.53 lakh from five bank and credit card accounts belonging to Rishitbhai, his wife, father and mother.
The accounts included their Bank of India accounts and credit card accounts.
After discovering the transactions, Rishitbhai contacted the 1930 cybercrime helpline and later approached the Cyber Crime Police Station.
The police have registered a case and begun investigating the transactions through technical analysis.
How The APK Scam Allegedly Worked
Cyber experts said malicious APK files can potentially give fraudsters access to information on a phone, depending on the permissions granted and the capabilities of the malware.
In this case, investigators suspect that the fraudsters used the malicious application along with call or SMS forwarding to intercept banking OTPs.
The suspected method involved activating forwarding through USSD codes or permissions, allowing the fraudsters to receive transaction-related messages and carry out unauthorised transactions.
The case remains under investigation.
