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A 68-year-old retired woman from Chandigarh has fallen victim to a digital banking fraud, losing ₹5 lakh from her bank account within just a few minutes. The woman, identified as Savita, is a retired employee of NIELIT (National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology).
According to the complaint, Savita lives in Sector-41, Chandigarh. On December 27, she searched for the Punjab National Bank (PNB) app on the Google Play Store and downloaded an application that appeared to be genuine.
After installing the app, she entered her bank account number, her husband’s mobile number, and her own mobile number. However, she did not receive any alert messages at that time.
On December 30, Savita withdrew ₹25,000 from an ATM in Sector-23. After the withdrawal, her account balance showed ₹5,02,000. She then left her mobile phone at home and went to the market.
When she returned and checked the app later, she was shocked to see that her account balance had become zero. The entire amount of ₹5 lakh was withdrawn within just 10 to 15 minutes. She also did not receive any transaction alerts or messages.
Immediately after discovering the fraud, Savita visited her bank branch. With the help of bank staff, all her accounts were frozen to prevent further loss. She then filed complaints with the bank and the cyber cell.
During the investigation, the Chandigarh cyber cell found that the application she had downloaded was not the official PNB app. It was a fake app created by cyber fraudsters to cheat users. The cyber team acted quickly and deleted the fake app from her mobile phone.
Cyber cell officials warned that such fake apps are designed to steal bank details, OTPs, PINs, and other confidential information, allowing fraudsters to empty bank accounts in minutes. They advised people not to share personal or banking information and to download banking apps only from official sources and verified links.
