Bhadrachalam man loses Rs. 55,894 in APK cyber fraud

An electrician from Bhadrachalam lost Rs. 55,894 after installing a fake APK file sent through WhatsApp claiming to be an RTA challan. Police registered a case under the BNS and ITA, while the victim alerted the cyber crime helpline.

Kothagudem: A man in Bhadrachalam town in the district lost money in a cyber fraud and lodged a complaint with the local police.

According to police, Yarramsetti Ramu, a resident of Ashok Nagar Kotha Colony in the town who works as an electrician, received an APK file on his WhatsApp account with the description “RTA challan” from an unknown person on June 29.

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Believing it to be genuine, he opened and installed the APK file. After some time, he started receiving SMS alerts indicating that money had been debited from his bank account. On checking his account, he found that an amount of Rs. 55,894 had been withdrawn through multiple transactions.

He then contacted the cyber crime helpline and reported the incident, following which he was issued an acknowledgement. Subsequently, the money in his bank account was placed on hold to prevent further transactions.

Based on a complaint by the electrician, Sub-Inspector of Police Vudum Sateesh registered an FIR against the culprit under Section 318 (4) (cheating) of the BNS along with Section 66-D of the ITA 2000-2008.

Of late, several cyber crimes have been reported in Bhadrachalam. A retired employee, Vemula Janardhan Reddy of Medical Colony in the town, lost Rs. 2.28 lakh in a cyber crime in January. A youth, Akash of Reddypalem village, lost his smartphone worth Rs. 50,000 in an OLX fraud in May.