Wedding card comes on WhatsApp, bank account gets emptied as soon as clicked, what to do, what not to do to stay safe

A shocking cyber fraud case has come to light from Bengaluru, where a fake wedding invite received on WhatsApp cost a businessman dearly. Due to this one small mistake he had to suffer a loss of more than ₹ 5 lakh.

According to reports, the 42-year-old man received a wedding invitation on WhatsApp, in which a file was attached. This file looked exactly like a digital wedding card, so they had no doubt about it. But actually it was an APK file, which is used to install Android apps.

As soon as he downloaded and installed this file, his smartphone went under the control of cyber criminals. It is being told that this malicious app has obtained many important permissions of the phone, which may include access to banking apps, messages and OTP.

After this, within a few minutes a UPI transaction of ₹ 5,00,440 was done from his bank account. The victim immediately lodged a complaint with the police, after which a case was registered under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Police say that this could also be a part of a big cyber fraud network.

How does this scam work?

In this type of scam, fraudsters send emotional or credible looking messages to people, such as wedding cards or event invites. As soon as the user downloads the attachment, a virus or spyware gets installed in the phone, which silently steals the data.

How to stay safe?

To avoid such fraud, it is very important to keep some important things in mind:

1. Do not download any unknown APK file
2. Always install apps from Google Play Store or Apple App Store
3. Read the app’s permissions carefully while installing it
4. Stay away from suspicious links and files
5. Make sure to keep 2-factor authentication on in banking and payment apps.

In today’s digital era, cyber thugs are adopting new methods. In such a situation, being alert is the biggest protection. A small carelessness can put your hard-earned money in danger.