Bengaluru, Jul 21: A Deputy Range Forest Officer in Bengaluru allegedly lost nearly ₹10 lakh in a cyber fraud after downloading a fake wedding invitation sent as an APK file on WhatsApp, police said.

According to investigators, the officer believed the invitation was genuine and installed the APK file on his mobile phone. Soon after, multiple unauthorised transactions were carried out from his Bank of Baroda account on July 14.

When the officer checked his account, he found that ₹9,96,659 had been withdrawn through several transactions without his knowledge or consent.

Realising he had fallen victim to a cyber scam, the officer immediately deleted all APK files from his phone and lodged a complaint with the police.

Preliminary investigations suggest that cybercriminals used the malicious APK file to gain access to the victim's mobile device, allowing them to compromise banking credentials and transfer funds from the account.

Police have registered a case and launched an investigation to trace the fraudsters and recover the stolen money.

Cybercrime officials have warned the public against installing APK files received through WhatsApp or other messaging platforms, especially those disguised as wedding invitations, event notifications, courier updates, or other seemingly legitimate documents. Such files often contain malware designed to steal personal and financial information.

Authorities have advised users to install apps only from trusted sources such as the Google Play Store or Apple App Store, avoid opening unknown APK files, and report suspicious messages immediately.