Hyderabad man loses Rs 4.12 lakh in fake Netflix customer support scam
HYDERABAD: A 64-year-old man from Hyderabad lost over Rs 4.12 lakh to cybercriminals. The criminals pretended to be from Netflix customer support and sent him a harmful APK file on WhatsApp. This enabled unauthorized transactions on his credit card, police said.
The man, who lives in New Nallakunta, said he paid Rs 199 for his Netflix subscription on July 20, 2026, but his account did not work. To fix the problem, he looked online for a Netflix support number and called the first number he found. The person who answered said he worked for Netflix and asked for details about the man’s account.
Malicious APK Sent on WhatsApp
During the conversation, the cybercriminal sent an APK file named “Netflix.apk” via WhatsApp number 7909047949 and asked the complainant to install it. Afterwards, the complainant discovered that three unauthorized transactions had been conducted using his ICICI Bank credit card without his knowledge or approval. These transactions included Rs 74,809, Rs 25,000, and Rs 3,12,443, totaling Rs 4,12,252.
The man said he did not share any of his bank or credit card details, PIN, or passwords with anyone, and did not approve the charges. Therefore, as soon as he saw the charges, he called ICICI Bank support, reported the problem, and blocked his credit card to stop more fraud.
After the scam, the man reset his phone, which deleted the APK file and other evidence. Subsequently, he reported the crime on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal and asked the police to act against the people who pretended to be Netflix support and sent the harmful file.
Police have registered a case and are investigating the matter. Meanwhile, the public has been advised to exercise extreme caution while searching for customer support numbers online and to only use numbers from official websites. People should never download APK files from unknown sources because they can allow criminals to control phones and steal information. Any suspicious activity should be reported to the Cybercrime Helpline at 1930.
