A 71-year-old man from K.R. Puram has lost ₹9.96 lakh after allegedly falling victim to a fake KYC update scam targeting his nationalised bank account.

According to the complaint filed with the East CEN Crime Police, D. Sivaprakasam said he received a WhatsApp message from an unknown number on August 15 around 5 p.m., while he was at his residence in Jayanthi Nagar, Horamavu. It asked him to complete KYC formalities for his IOB bank account.

The complainant said he opened the message and was prompted to install an “Aadhaar update.apk” application on his mobile phone. Believing it to be a legitimate bank application, he installed it and entered his 16-digit debit card number, CVV and expiry details.

Soon after entering the details, he began receiving bank alerts about money being debited from his account. The police records show that six transactions totalling ₹9.96 lakh were made from the account.

Realising that he had been targeted by cyber fraudsters, Sivaprakasam immediately contacted the bank and got his internet banking facility frozen. He also deleted the APK application from his phone to prevent further financial loss.

The complainant told the police that the money had been saved by him and his family for future medical expenses, making the loss particularly distressing.

He has submitted the bank statement, a copy of the APK, acknowledgement documents, screenshots of the debit alerts and the WhatsApp conversation to the police.

The East CEN Crime Police have registered a case. Further investigation is on.