Police arrest suspect accused of large-scale APK cyber fraud in Khorezm

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, a resident of the Gurlan district used various Telegram accounts registered with U.S. and Uzbek phone numbers to distribute malware in APK format designed for the Android operating system.

Through these infected applications, confidential information linked to citizens’ bank cards stored on their mobile phones, including SMS verification codes, was obtained remotely. The stolen data was later used via bookmaker applications to withdraw funds from the victims’ bank cards.

Investigators found that the illegally obtained funds were appropriated as “winnings” through betting activities and subsequently converted into cryptocurrency.

Preliminary estimates indicate that 157 citizens suffered material losses totaling more than UZS 631 million as a result of these criminal actions. It was also revealed that the suspect linked a total of 39 bank cards registered in his own name and to SIM cards he was using, and carried out cryptocurrency trading worth nearly UZS 7 billion through cryptobots and the Bitget and Binance applications.

At present, operational search and technical measures are ongoing to compile a list of victims and identify other individuals involved in the crime.