Police on Saturday issued a public advisory on its X handle asking mobile users not to download files received from unknown numbers “on WhatsApp or other messaging platforms”.
The advisory was issued within hours of Kolkata Police arresting a group of men who had allegedly been siphoning money from bank accounts by fraudulently gaining remote access to mobile phones from Maheshtala on the city’s southern fringes.
“Do not download APK files received from unknown numbers on WhatsApp or other messaging platforms. Delete such files immediately to stay safe from cyber fraud,” Kolkata Police wrote X.
A team from Kolkata Police’s cyber police station arrested the group while investigating a complaint of an alleged cyber fraud lodged in December. Ten laptops, 24 smartphones and two routers were seized from the accused.
The arrested were identified as Abhimanyu Kumar alias Raja Kumar, 22, Mohammad Samar, 20, Niraj Kumar, 28, Mohammad Imran, 19 — from Aurangabad in Bihar — and Cezane Philips, 22, from Aurangabad in Maharashtra.
“The accused men would gain access to mobile phones of victims remotely using technology by sending malicious files through links on social media platforms,” a senior officer said.
The accused would then collect data from banking or financial apps installed on the phones. “The data would then be utilised to access bank accounts and siphon money to accounts of their choice. The whole operation would be done remotely without the victim knowing any of it initially,” the officer said.
The police have been receiving multiple complaints, mostly from senior citizens, about an alleged KYC fraud through which they have been robbed of their savings, officers said.
“Earlier, fraudsters would ask for OTPs. Now, most of them are sending files in a certain format and asking the targets to download them for KYC updates. Once downloaded, these files help the fraudsters to access all the bank details,” the police officer said.