Chandigarh: A retired Army brigadier has been allegedly cheated of ₹3.26 lakh after fraudsters posing as gas-service representatives induced him to install a malicious application and then siphoned funds from his bank account, police said.
The complainant, Brigadier Bhup Singh Taunque (retd), a resident of Army Flats in Sector 47-C, approached the Cyber Crime Police Station in Sector 17 after unauthorised withdrawals were detected from his account. Police have registered a cheating case against unidentified persons and have begun tracing the transaction trail. No arrests have been reported.
According to the complaint, Taunque received a mobile message on 20 June warning that his gas connection would be disconnected at 10.30 p.m. unless outstanding dues were cleared. Shortly afterwards, an unknown caller instructed him to install an Adani application in APK format on his phone. The file was not obtained from an official app store. Once installed, it is alleged to have compromised the device and given the callers remote access.
The following day, the fraudsters attempted to transfer ₹5 lakh from the officer’s State Bank of India pension account at the Sector 17 Bank Square branch. The transaction was declined by the account holder and blocked by the bank. On 5 July, however, four unauthorised withdrawals were executed from his Axis Bank account within 42 minutes. The transfers of ₹90,000, ₹1,03,551, ₹48,323 and ₹84,500 totalled ₹3,26,374.
Police have described the episode as another instance of cyber fraud linked to counterfeit Adani Gas billing applications circulating in Chandigarh. Similar complaints in recent months have involved messages that threaten imminent disconnection and then press the recipient to install an APK file sent by WhatsApp or an unknown caller. Once installed, such files can allow remote control of the handset, interception of one-time passwords and unauthorised access to banking applications.
Investigators are examining bank records and the movement of the stolen funds. Officials have reiterated that genuine gas distributors do not send APK files for bill payment or connection verification and that applications should be downloaded only from official stores.
Advisory
Residents who receive messages warning of gas disconnection, pending bills or mandatory “app updates” should not click links or install files sent outside the Google Play Store or Apple App Store. Suspicious messages may be reported on the national cybercrime helpline 1930 or at cybercrime.gov.in. Banks should be informed immediately if unauthorised transactions appear.
