Are You Using Genuine Apps? Victims Lose Rs 64.38 Crore As 18-Year-Old School Dropout Uses AI To Develop 121 Fake Banking Apps

Surat: An 18-year-old Class 11 dropout has been by the Cyber Crime Cell of the Surat Police, Gujarat, for allegedly using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Telegram to develop 121 fake banking apps. Notably, as many as 2,928 people fell victim to the malicious apps and lost a total of Rs 64.38 crore.

Rohit Virendrasinh Shakya, who is from Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur, allegedly supplied the malicious APK files to cybercriminal gangs operating in Jharkhand's Jamtara and other networks in Haryana and Rajasthan.

Shakya allegedly very closely mimicked apps of banks like Punjab National Bank (PNB), State Bank of India (SBI), Axis Bank and UCO Bank. He allegedly also made fake apps of BigBasket, American Express, PM Kisan and RTO challan.

Further, he is also accused of developing apps via which cybercriminals could see OTPs, banking details and other sensitive information from mobile phones of victims in real time.

As per the police, the school dropout also supplied customised malware to cybercriminals at a rate of Rs 15,000 per month.

The matter came to light when a victim filed a police complaint after falling for an APK file on WhatsApp that resembled Punjab National Bank's PNB One app. Mistaking it for the real PNB app, the man downloaded the app, following which he lost Rs 5 lakh.

The Cyber Crime Cell launched an investigation following the complaint and arrested Rohit Virendrasinh Shakya from a hotel in Kanpur, seizing several mobile phone and other digital devices.

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