A 74-year-old man at Edappally has allegedly lost ₹10.54 lakh in a cyber fraud in the name of a fake fine by the Motor Vehicles department. The Palarivattom police have launched an investigation into the incident.
The police said the complainant allegedly lost the money as he clicked on a link received via WhatsApp to pay a fine through the m-Parivahan app. The incident happened last month. The police suspect that when the link was clicked, an apk file must have been installed on the phone, allowing phone mirroring or screen sharing. Subsequently, the accused took control of the victim’s phone.
The fraudsters transferred a total of ₹10,54,999 through multiple transactions after accessing the complainant’s phone screen.
The victim alerted the police through the National Cyber Crime Helpline Portal: 1930. The case was registered under Sections 316(2) (criminal breach of trust), 318(4) (dishonestly induces the person deceived to deliver any property), and 3(5) (joint criminal liability) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Similar instances of fraud in the name of the m-Parivahan app have been reported from across the State of late.
Published – October 06, 2025 11:54 pm IST
