63-year-old man loses ₹210,000 to WhatsApp scam with "Customer Service" app leading to bank fraud

Summary

A 63-year-old man from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, lost Rs 2,10,000 after receiving a suspicious WhatsApp image on March 28. The image, sent with a message asking if he recognized the person shown, was followed by several calls from an unknown number. After briefly answering one call, he received SMS alerts showing Rs 1,00,000 and Rs 1,10,000 had been withdrawn from his Canara Bank account. The transactions were traced to a new account in Hyderabad, with names like "Vishal Online" and "Jannatun Bibi Online" listed. A previously unknown app called “Customer Service” later appeared on his phone, which he claims gave the scammer access to his messages, call logs, and OTPs. Despite reporting the incident to the bank and cyber helpline, he was unable to recover the funds.