A 60-year-old man from Visakhapatnam lost ₹12 lakh in an alleged cyber fraud after being approached by scammers claiming to represent a private bank. The fraudsters offered to increase his existing credit card limit and asked him to share photographs of both sides of his card along with a one-time password (OTP).

According to The Times of India, the victim later received an APK file through WhatsApp and installed it, believing it was legitimate. After entering his card details into the application, he received transaction alerts showing an initial debit of ₹7 lakh, followed by additional transactions totalling ₹5 lakh.

The man subsequently approached the Visakhapatnam cybercrime police and filed a complaint seeking action against the perpetrators and recovery of the money.

Police have warned that scammers impersonate bank employees and use fake applications, websites and WhatsApp profiles to obtain confidential financial information.

Safety reminder: Never share your OTP, CVV or card details with callers claiming to be bank officials. Avoid installing APK files received from unknown sources. Verify credit-limit offers directly through your bank’s official app or website. If you experience cyber financial fraud, contact 1930 promptly or report it through the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal.