Surat police in India have arrested an 18-year-old Class 11 dropout who allegedly used AI tools to build fake banking apps that helped cybercriminals steal more than Rs 64 crore nationwide.
The Surat City Cyber Crime Cell arrested Rohit Virendrasinh Shakya at a hotel in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, according to India Today. Police allege he developed malicious APK files and supplied them to cybercrime gangs operating out of Jharkhand’s Jamtara, along with networks in Haryana and Rajasthan.
Shakya dropped out after Class 11 but became an expert coder by age 16, police said. Investigators allege he used AI tools and Telegram to build fake apps that closely mimicked genuine banking, government and private-sector services.
He allegedly ran the operation like a subscription, selling customised malware to criminals for Rs 15,000 a month with regular updates and maintenance.
Investigators say Shakya built two types of app. A “victim app” landed on the phones of unsuspecting users. An “admin app” let fraudsters pull OTPs, banking credentials and other sensitive data in real time.
The fake apps impersonated a long list of trusted names, police said, including SBI, PNB, Axis Bank, UCO Bank, ICICI Bank, Union Bank, BigBasket, American Express, Aadhaar services, PM Kisan and RTO challan payment portals.
How the Case Broke
The investigation started in May, after a Surat resident reported losing Rs 5 lakh.
Between May 15 and 18, the victim received a file called “PNB One.apk” over WhatsApp, according to police. Believing it was the official Punjab National Bank app, he installed it.
The phone was compromised at once. Cybercriminals reached his banking details and moved Rs 5 lakh from his Prime Co-operative Bank account to a Union Bank account.
The victim called the cyber helpline, 1930. Surat Cyber Crime registered an FIR and opened an investigation.
A Network, Not a One-Off
The probe pointed to an organised cybercrime ecosystem rather than a single scam, police said.
Digital forensic analysis found that Shakya had developed 121 malicious APK apps, installed on 21,672 phones nationwide, according to investigators. Of those, 2,928 devices were fully compromised.
The 2,928 compromised phones produced 54,094 fraudulent banking transactions worth about Rs 64.38 crore. — Surat City Cyber Crime Cell
Fake RTO challan apps drove the most frauds, followed by fake SBI and PNB apps.
The malicious files moved through Telegram to syndicates concentrated in Jamtara, Haryana and Rajasthan, police said, under the monthly subscription that bundled updates and maintenance.
Officers seized two mobile phones and a laptop from Shakya and began a detailed forensic examination.
Investigators are now checking whether other syndicates used his software and whether more people took part in the network.
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