Mumbai, September 25: A WhatsApp wedding scam has come to light in Maharashtra, where a government employee in Hingoli district allegedly lost nearly INR 2 lakh after clicking on a digital wedding invite received on WhatsApp. The alleged cyber fraud was done through a fake digital wedding invitation sent to the victim on Meta's mobile instant messenger. It is learnt that the victim received a message on WhatsApp from an unknown number to attend a wedding on August 30.

"Welcome. Shadi mein zarur aye (Do come to the wedding). 30/08/2025. Love is the master key that opens the gate of happiness," the message sent to the victim on WhatsApp read. The unknown number also shared a PDF file of the wedding invitation. However, opening the digital wedding invite proved costly for the victim. It is reported that the PDF wedding invite was an Android Application Package (APK) file, which scammers used to hack into users' phones and steal sensitive data. What Is Fake CAPTCHA Scam? Learn How Cybercriminals Target Users With New Method To Steal Valuable Information; Know How To Avoid Such Scams.

Soon after the victim clicked on the PDF wedding invite file, the fraudsters accessed his data and stole INR 1,90,000 from his bank account. After the incident, the victim approached the police and lodged a complaint with the Hingoli police station and the cyber cell department. It must be recalled that the WhatsApp wedding invitation scam came to light in 2024 when several people lost money after falling prey to the fraud. So, how does the WhatsApp wedding scam work?

How Does The New Online Fraud Involving WhatsApp Work?

The wedding invitation scam begins with a person, potentially a victim, receiving a wedding invite on WhatsApp. When the victim clicks on the digital wedding invite, thinking it's a PDF file, an APK file gets downloaded on the phone. Through the APK file, the fraudsters access the victim's phone and monitor their activities. The fraudsters use the data to scam the victim by stealing money from their bank accounts and even defraud more people by pretending to be the phone's owner. What Is WhatsApp Image Scam? How To Protect Yourself From Online Fraud That Made Jabalpur Man Lose INR 2 Lakh After Downloading Photo.

Fraudsters can also steal sensitive information, including bank account details and passwords for bank and social media accounts, among others, to dupe the victim through blackmail and threats. Last year, the Himachal Pradesh Cyber police had issued a warning and advised people to refrain from downloading files received from unknown sources.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 25, 2025 06:13 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).