Chandigarh: A serving Army colonel was allegedly cheated of ₹8.83 lakh after fraudsters made him download a fake APK file on the pretext of clearing a pending water bill.The officer, posted as Deputy Commander, Territorial Army Group Headquarters, Western Command, received a WhatsApp call on Feb 5 from someone claiming to be from the JK PHE department. The caller said his water bill was overdue and asked him to send “Hi” on WhatsApp, following which an APK file named “JK PHED WATER CITIZEN SERVICE.apk” was shared.When he sought details, he was told to call another number and speak to a man identifying himself as “Rakesh”, JE, PHE department, Jammu. He was again asked to send “Hi” from the mobile number linked to his bank account and received another APK file to download.Soon after installing the file and attempting payment with the consumer ID provided, over Rs 8 lakh was withdrawn from his account, police said. An FIR has been registered and investigation is on.
