Mangaluru: A 44-year-old man fell victim to a cyber scam, losing a total of Rs 1,78,191 after downloading a malicious application advertised on social media.According to the police complaint summary, the incident occurred on Oct 15 while the victim was browsing Facebook at home. An advertisement for an application named “XM tv” promised free access to all television channels. Enticed by the offer, the victim clicked on the advertisement and downloaded the app onto their mobile phone. Later, a malicious APK file was downloaded onto the phone during the app installation, granting an unknown perpetrator unauthorised access to the victim’s bank accounts.Between Oct 16 and 17, a series of unauthorised UPI transactions were executed without the victim’s knowledge. While Rs 98,000 and Rs 50,000 were withdrawn from one of his bank accounts on Oct 16 and 17, respectively. Similarly, Rs 30,191 was withdrawn from another bank account on Oct 16.The fraud came to light on Oct 18 when the victim checked his account balance and discovered that all funds were gone. The victim immediately visited the police station, where an inspection confirmed the presence of the unauthorised APK file installed on the device.A formal complaint has been filed with Mangaluru CEN police against the unidentified fraudster, demanding appropriate legal action under cybercrime laws.
