Gujarat Police has busted a cyber crime gang from Jharkhand, which used to gain unauthorized access to people’s mobile phones by sending APK files and withdraw money from their bank accounts. Officials gave this information on Thursday. According to the Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Branch, the main accused Purnanand alias Mukesh Tiwari had created APK files and a Telegram bot to gain unauthorized access to people’s mobile phones, through which fake apps were sold in the name of banks, government and other services.
Police have arrested Tiwari and two other people. According to the police, an important thing came to light in the investigation that this gang adopted such a tactic that ‘APK files’ spread automatically. When a victim installed the APK file, the malware was automatically shared across all the victim’s WhatsApp and Telegram groups.
Police said that if any other user downloaded the file, it would spread like a chain, due to which these dangerous APK files would reach millions of mobile phones within a few days. The Cyber Crime Branch has so far found connection with this gang in several fraud complaints and FIRs, in which there has been a loss of approximately Rs 54 lakh.
Police said that after investigating several complaints of cyber fraud registered on the National Cyber Crime Helpline-1930, Tiwari was arrested from a train going from Kolkata to Mizoram. Police said that the other arrested accused, Vikas Das, had allegedly provided APK files to around 400 people who committed cyber frauds, while accused Sitaram Mandal had allegedly arranged for credit and debit cards to be used in fraudulent activities. These arrests were made in connection with a case in which city resident Naresh Sabnani lost Rs 6.68 lakh.
The fraudsters, posing as officials of Sabarmati Gas Limited, had tricked them into downloading an APK file. Police said that all three accused have a previous criminal record, in which cases of cyber fraud, forgery and forgery are registered in Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh.
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