From WhatsApp to lanes of Dharavi: How Kerala cops tracked fraudster who made fake PM-Kisan app

Alappuzha district police superintendent M P Mohanachandran said the investigation continued to determine the involvement of others, as the fraud “cannot be done by an individual alone”.

Explaining the modus operandi, police said fake APK files of the PM Kisan Yojana were circulated in a WhatsApp group linked to the Pattanakkad panchayat in Alappuzha on April 18. One of the women in the group allegedly clicked on the link, downloading the files. This allegedly led to her phone being cloned, and her credit card details being stolen. The same day, her card was allegedly used for purchases on Flipkart, causing a loss of Rs 96,312.

After the woman filed a complaint in May, the Alappuzha SP formed a special team under Pattanakkad station house officer K A S Jayan. With the help of the district cyber cell, the team collected purchase details from Flipkart and found that five mobile phones had been bought using the hacked card, the officer said. They allegedly traced the IMEI numbers and tower locations, which indicated the phones were active in Mumbai.

With assistance from Mumbai Police, the Alappuzha team tracked the users of the phones across Bandra, CST, and Dharavi.

“With the help of the Mumbai Police, the team led by inspector Jayan confronted the persons using the phones. They all had bills from the same address of a mobile shop in Dharavi on the road to Mahim. The shop owner confessed that the sets were sold by Azad Khan,” said Ratheesh Gopakumar, one of the officers who went to Dharavi on May 7 to arrest the accused.

Inspector Jayan said police will seek custody of Khan. “Although many people received the fake link on WhatsApp, we have not got more complaints. Digital evidence will be retrieved to ascertain the scope of the fraud,” he said.

Ranimol, the victim, said the link had appeared in a WhatsApp group used by panchayat officials to share information.

“There was no reason to suspect it. I clicked the link and it opened. That evening, I made a purchase using my credit card. Soon after, I received five OTPs within 10 minutes. Since I didn’t share them, I thought I was safe. Later that day, I realised I had lost around Rs 1 lakh,” she said.

She added that they later approached the cybercrime cell, their bank, and the RBI before Pattanakkad police registered a case and began the probe.