Retired employee in Warora loses Rs 10.5 lakh to fake life certificate APK scam

Another cyber fraud against a pensioner has come to light in Warora. A 68-year-old retired government employee was cheated of Rs 10.5 lakh in the name of updating his bank life certificate. According to the complaint, it happened through a link seen on Facebook and an APK file received on WhatsApp on November 4, 2026. A case has been registered at the Chandrapur Cyber Police Station.

The victim, Anandrao Mukundrao Wankhede, retired from the Warora branch of Bank of India in 2009. He lives with his wife in the Borda area of Warora. He holds two accounts at the same branch, one savings and one pension. Every year he has to update his life certificate for the account as per rules, but this year he had not done so on time. According to the complaint, cyber fraudsters took advantage of this to lay out the entire trap.

At around 10 am on November 4, 2026, Anandrao was browsing Facebook. He saw a link carrying the Bank of India logo, related to updating the life certificate, and clicked on it. Shortly afterwards he received a message on his mobile from a person named Deepakkumar Sharma, which read "Hi sir, good morning". A call then came from a mobile number, and the caller claimed to be a Bank of India employee.

Gaining his trust, the person sent Anandrao an APK file on WhatsApp and asked him to install it on his mobile immediately. After the file was opened, he was asked for his mobile number, ATM card number and ATM PIN. He was told this information was necessary for the bank's work to continue smoothly. Anandrao filled in all the details and submitted the file. He received a message saying the certificate would be updated by 4 pm.

Messages then began arriving on his phone one after another. First came "Life certificate 98 per cent complete", then the same message again, and later a message saying "KYC 100 per cent complete". All these messages were fake.

Soon after, four separate messages arrived about money being debited from his bank account. First Rs 5 lakh was withdrawn, then Rs 5 lakh again, and with the remaining transactions a total of Rs 10.5 lakh was taken out without his knowledge. As soon as he realised what had happened, Anandrao rushed to the Warora branch of Bank of India and told the bank manager everything.

The manager checked the account statement and found that the Rs 10.5 lakh had been withdrawn through different transaction IDs between 4 pm and 5 pm on November 4. The complaint says the fraudsters carried out the crime by posing as a bank employee and taking control of the mobile with a fake APK file.

On Anandrao Wankhede's complaint, a case has been registered at the Chandrapur Cyber Police Station under Sections 66(C) and 66(D) of the IT Act and Sections 3(5), 318(4), 319(2) and 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023. Further investigation is under way under the guidance of Police Inspector Sunil Gade. Fear has spread among residents after the incident of elderly people and pensioners being robbed through software or APK file traps.