65-year-old duped of ₹8.5 lakh in fake IndusInd Bank APK scam

A 65-year-old retired man from Ahmedabad has alleged that cyber fraudsters, posing as bank officials, duped him of ₹8.5 lakh by tricking him into downloading a malicious mobile application under the pretext of assisting with the renewal of a fixed deposit.

According to a Cyber Cell official, Vatva resident Amalkumar Shailendranath Nath was targeted in November 2025 after he searched online for the contact details of IndusInd Bank's Bhayli branch in Vadodara.

Police said Nath found a mobile number listed on Google and called it seeking assistance regarding a fixed deposit of ₹4 lakh that was due to mature on November 14, 2025. The person who answered allegedly claimed to be from the bank’s Bhayli branch and said the call would be transferred to customer support.

Shortly thereafter, Nath received another call from a man identifying himself as 'Akash Verma', purportedly a senior manager with IndusInd Bank in Mumbai.

The accused allegedly asked the complainant to share personal banking details and later sent him a file titled 'CUSTOMER SUPPORT P15.apk' via WhatsApp, instructing him to install it and complete the required information.

Police said the APK file enabled the fraudsters to gain unauthorised remote access to Nath’s mobile phone, after which they allegedly broke multiple fixed deposits, transferred funds between his accounts, and siphoned off money through a series of unauthorised transactions.

Investigators said the accused withdrew ₹8 lakh from one of the complainant’s bank accounts and transferred another ₹50,000 from a separate account before withdrawing the funds, resulting in a total loss of ₹8.5 lakh.

The fraud came to light when Nath visited an ATM and later checked with the bank, where he was informed that the transactions had been carried out through IMPS transfers. He subsequently lodged complaints through the national cyber helpline 1930 before approaching the police.

An FIR has been registered against the unidentified accused and the person using the alias Akash Verma for cheating, impersonation, and cyber fraud. 

Police have advised citizens not to download APK files sent by unknown persons or share banking credentials over phone or messaging applications.