Hyderabad, Jul 21 (PTI) The Cyber Crime Police here has named the “Head of Google in India” as a co-accused in three cyber fraud cases in which the complainants alleged that fraudsters cheated them in the name of high returns to their investments, by making them download “fake” apps from Google Play Store.
The complainants alleged that they downloaded the fraudulent trading applications, believing them to be genuine and trustworthy because they were available in Google Play Store.
Based on the three separate complaints, police registered cases under relevant sections of the IT Act and BNS against the fraudsters and the Google India Head.
A senior police official told PTI they are in the process of issuing a notice to Google India seeking information about such apps.
“We are verifying…what are these apps and the fraudulent content. If any suspicious thing is found, we will ask them to remove such apps,” he said.
A 69-year-old man, in his complaint filed on July 15, stated he came across an advertisement on social media in May this year which claimed that investors could earn Rs 22 lakh per week.
Believing the advertisement to be genuine, he clicked on the website link, registered his mobile number and a woman contacted him on a messaging app.
The complainant stated that the accused, through the fraudulent investment platform, whose app is available in Play Store, dishonestly induced him to transfer huge sums of money on the false promise of high investment returns and then refused to release his funds.
He alleged that due to Google Authorities’ failure to restrict and moderate content on the Play Store, he suffered financial loss of Rs 24.37 lakhs.
The complainant sought legal action against the persons who cheated him, besides “the Head of Google in India”.
In another case, a 40-year-old man in a complaint filed on July 14 alleged that the fraudsters cheated him of Rs 17 lakh through a fake securities platform in the name of trading. He said he was unable to withdraw the invested money when he tried to do so.
He stated that he was sent an app link and told to download the application from the Google Play Store which he did, and he invested money as instructed by the accused.
The complainants also alleged that despite having content moderation, app review, and advertisement verification mechanisms, Google Authorities (Google Play Store) failed to exercise due diligence in preventing the publication and distribution of the fraudulent application on its platform.
In another similar case, a 71-year-old retired government employee filed a complaint on June 30 stating he was cheated of Rs 7.42 lakh in investment fraud through the fake trading and investment application of a company.
Meanwhile, according to sources, Google was reviewing the matter. PTI VVK SJR SA
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