Hyderabad: The Cyberabad Police has booked Google India’s nodal officer on charges of negligence after a 58-year-old defence public sector undertaking (PSU) employee lost Rs 7.95 lakh investing in stocks through a fraudulent app listed on the Google Play Store.
The case, registered at the Cyberabad Cybercrime Police Station on Sunday, July 26, comes weeks after Hyderabad Cybercrime Police registered three separate cases between June 30 and July 15, naming Google India’s head Preeti Lobana as a co-accused alongside cyber fraudsters.
Three victims in those cases collectively alleged losses of more than Rs 48 lakh through fraudulent apps on the Play Store.
In the latest case, the victim alleged that fraudsters who contacted him through WhatsApp groups in the first week of July persuaded him to invest through the GVS Institution app, available on the Play Store and presented as a platform for institutional stock trading.
He deposited Rs 7.95 lakh into different bank accounts through the app between July 10 and 20. The app showed notional profits of Rs 27.75 lakh, but his withdrawal requests were repeatedly denied. When the fraudsters then demanded an additional Rs 9.26 lakh as “withdrawal tax,” the victim grew suspicious and went to the police.
“Believing that Play Store maintains genuine apps, I downloaded it and lost Rs 7.95 lakh. Please initiate necessary legal action against the Indian Google Nodal Head for negligence,” the victim said in his police complaint.
A check of the GVS Institution app on the Play Store showed it had just over 100 downloads and a rating of 1.3. Of 12 reviews, all posted in July, 11 stated that money invested through the app remained stuck. “I regret investing through this app. My money has been stuck without any proper explanation,” one user wrote on July 24.
After the earlier cases were registered, Google’s nodal officer had met Hyderabad Cybercrime Police and was asked to return with the company’s senior executives and technical team to explain what checks and measures were in place to keep fraudulent apps off the Play Store.
That meeting is likely to take place this week, according to a report in the Times of India.
In the fresh case, police has booked the Google India nodal officer along with the WhatsApp group admins and suspected bank account holders under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Information Technology Act.
A senior police officer told TOI that under the IT Act, intermediaries such as Google are ordinarily exempt from criminal liability for the actions of third parties, including fraudulent apps, but only if they act promptly on removal notices.
“If an app causing monetary loss to people through fraudulent means is not removed despite a notice from police, without a valid reason, the company also becomes liable under Section 79(3) of the IT Act,” a Hyderabad cybercrime officer said.
“We will issue notice to the Google nodal officer regarding the case and the app in question. We will also analyse the phone numbers used by the accused to identify and arrest them,” the cybercrime official told TOI.
This post was last modified on July 29, 2026 9:29 am