🚨 A Wedding Invite. A Single Click. A phone Completely Hijacked.
India’s wedding season has always been about auspicious dates, family whatsapp groups, and wallet PLATFORM' target='_blank' title='digital-Latest Updates, Photos, Videos are a click away, CLICK NOW'>digital invitations. This year, it has quietly added one more ritual: cyber fraud.
What looked like a harmless wedding invitation link—sent from trusted contacts—turned into a mass hacking operation, draining peace of mind, nearly draining bank accounts, and exposing how dangerously unprepared we still are online.
This isn’t a tech story.
This is a trust story—and how it’s being weaponised.
💣 The Trap: When Trust Becomes the Trojan Horse
A wedding invitation landed in a woman’s whatsapp group.
It looked normal.
It came from a known number.
It felt safe.
More than 150 women downloaded the file.
Within hours:
whatsapp accounts were hacked
Apps uninstalled automatically
Phones became partially unusable
wallet PLATFORM' target='_blank' title='digital-Latest Updates, Photos, Videos are a click away, CLICK NOW'>digital payment apps were compromised
The fraud didn’t arrive through strangers.
It came with familiarity.
📱 The Weapon: APK Files Disguised as Invitations
Cyber experts are clear: this is not a whatsapp bug.
It’s an APK-based malware attack.
As wedding season begins and auspicious dates (Savos) roll in, fraudsters are:
Sending fake wallet PLATFORM' target='_blank' title='digital-Latest Updates, Photos, Videos are a click away, CLICK NOW'>digital wedding cards
Disguising them as invitation files
Tricking users into installing APKs
Taking full or partial control of phones
Once installed, the malware:
Hijacks WhatsApp
Sends the same fake link to your contacts
Accesses payment apps like PhonePe
Changes UPI PINs
Locks users out of their own devices
🧕 Case Study: “It Came From a Friend’s Phone.”
Lalita Khamesra, a housewife from Bhilwara, received a wedding invitation link before Diwali—from a friend’s number.
She clicked.
Nothing opened.
She slept.
At 3 AM, she received a whatsapp call.
By morning:
Only the security layers of the State bank of India prevented a full financial disaster.
She rushed to the bank and withdrew all her money.
🔁 The Infection Spreads Automatically
Hours later, Lalita’s friends called her in panic.
Her number was now sending the same wedding invitation link to multiple whatsapp groups.
She hadn’t sent anything.
The malware had.
Only after formatting her entire phone did the infection finally stop.
🧠 Elderly Users: The Softest Targets
Fraudsters didn’t stop with group chats.
They sent the same links to elderly users—where:
Apps stopped working
Phones became almost unusable
Only calling remained functional
For 1–1.5 hours, some phones were fully controlled by hackers, as reported by victims like ashok Jain from Bhilwara.
⚠️ “90% of the Fault Is Ours”—A Brutal Truth
Cyber expert Ankush Saraswat didn’t mince words:
“In 90% of cyber fraud cases, users unknowingly allow access themselves.”
Only 10% involve forced hacking.
This scam succeeds because:
The link comes from trusted contacts
The wedding season lowers suspicion
APK installation permissions are granted casually
People confuse “familiar” with “safe”
🛑 How to Know If Your phone Is Hacked
Check your phone immediately if you notice unusual behaviour.
Go to Settings → Search, and look for files with extensions:
.apk.exe.pif.shs.vbs
If found:
☎️ What To Do If You’re a Victim
Act fast, not calmly.
Unlink all bank and payment apps
Call 1930 immediately
File a complaint at Cyber Crime Portal
Inform your bank and cyber police
Warn all your contacts
Delay is how damage multiplies.
🏁 Final Warning
This scam works not because it’s sophisticated, but because it hijacks human trust.
A wedding invite shouldn’t cost you your phone, your money, and your peace of mind.
But in 2026, one careless click is enough.
This wedding season, remember:
🎯 Don’t trust links—even from friends.
🎯 Never install APK files from WhatsApp.
🎯 Caution is no longer optional. It’s survival.
Share this.
Before the next “invitation” arrives.
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