A Nashik businessman lost ₹6 lakh after clicking on a malicious link disguised as a traffic challan, spotlighting the rising menace of fake APK scams exploiting traffic fine alerts to compromise mobile devices.
A 28-year-old Nashik businessman has filed a cyber fraud complaint after losing about ₹6 lakh in what police believe was a fake e-challan scam involving a malicious mParivahan APK file. The case adds to a growing number of warnings from cyber authorities about criminals using traffic fine alerts to push harmful downloads onto mobile phones. According to the Free Press Journal, the victim clicked a link in a message about a vehicle he did not own, after which his phone was compromised and unauthorised withdrawals began.
Police said the man, who works in the powerloom business, received the message on July 31 from an unknown sender. The link led to a file identified as NextGen_mParivahan.apk, and soon after, his calls were reportedly diverted and money was debited from a bank card linked to his mobile number. The Times of India reported that he later noticed the suspicious nature of the message but by then his account had already been drained through multiple transactions.
Cybercrime officials have repeatedly warned that these scams are designed to look official. Maharashtra Cyber Police said fake challan messages often arrive with APK files, links or PDFs and can give attackers access to SMS messages, one-time passwords and banking apps once installed. Moneycontrol reported that the genuine mParivahan service does not send challan alerts through WhatsApp, while Onmanorama quoted transport authorities as saying the real app is distributed only through official app stores, not APK files sent by message.
The Nashik case was registered under cheating and identity theft provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Information Technology Act. Police and cyber safety advisories say users should avoid downloading unknown APK files, ignore messages urging immediate payment and verify any traffic fine through official government channels such as the Parivahan website or the authorised mParivahan app. Several recent reports from Hyderabad, Nashik and elsewhere suggest the same tactic is being used across states, with losses reaching roughly ₹6 lakh in individual cases.
Disclaimer: This article is intended to inform and educate, not to recommend or endorse any financial product, investment or strategy. Please consider your own financial circumstances and seek professional advice where appropriate before making financial decisions.
