Odhav resident loses ₹11.87 lakh after downloading fake RTO e-challan APK sent on WhatsApp

A 35-year-old supervisor from Odhav has filed a complaint with the Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Police after allegedly losing ₹11.87 lakh in a cyber fraud involving a fake RTO e-Challan application sent through WhatsApp.

The complainant, Vajaram Kasturaji Chowdhary, a resident of Bela Park in Odhav, alleged that cyber criminals gained access to his mobile phone and bank accounts after he downloaded and installed a malicious Android APK file received from an unknown mobile number.

According to the complaint, the incident occurred on January 24, 2026, when Chowdhary was waiting at Odhav Crossroads before travelling to his native village in Rajasthan.

At around 6.20 pm, he allegedly received a WhatsApp message claiming to be an RTO traffic challan notification. The message contained a file named "RTO-EChallan.apk".

Believing the message to be genuine, he downloaded and installed the application on his mobile phone.

After installing the APK file, the complainant entered personal information, including:

Name

Mobile number

Email address

Date of birth

Soon afterwards, his phone reportedly became unresponsive for several minutes. During this period, Aadhaar-linked OTP messages allegedly started appearing automatically on the device.

The following day, Chowdhary allegedly discovered suspicious activity in his bank account.

Initially, he noticed a negative balance of nearly ₹22 lakh and asked a relative to visit the bank branch because he was still in Rajasthan. After returning to Ahmedabad, he personally approached the bank for clarification.

Bank officials later informed him that the negative balance was caused by a system display issue. However, they confirmed that funds from both his IndusInd Bank savings account and fixed deposit accounts had been transferred to multiple bank accounts without his authorisation.

Police said a total of ₹11.87 lakh was fraudulently withdrawn through multiple transactions on January 25, 2026.

Cyber crime complaint registered

The complainant contacted the National Cyber Crime Helpline (1930) on February 2, 2026, before approaching the Cyber Crime Police Station with supporting evidence.

Based on the complaint, Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Police have registered a case against unidentified cyber fraudsters under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) related to cheating, criminal conspiracy and cyber fraud.

Investigators have seized screenshots and a pen drive containing digital evidence submitted by the complainant.

Cyber crime officials have repeatedly warned citizens not to download APK files received through WhatsApp, SMS or unknown sources, as such applications may contain malware capable of stealing banking credentials, OTPs and personal data.

Further investigation is underway.