Army Transfer Tenant Advance Scam through an app

How it looks through an app, the red flags and what to do.

The app is the scammer's way in: it can read what is on the screen, collect contacts and push you to pay. Army Transfer Tenant Advance Scam is one of the ways this shows up: A 'transferred army officer' wants to rent your flat and pays an advance by making you scan a QR code. Learn how this landlord trick drains accounts.

What army transfer tenant advance scam looks like through an app

• A screen-sharing or remote-control app that a caller asks you to install.
• A loan app that asks for contacts and photos.
• A "KYC", "challan" or "bank rewards" app from a link.

The fake tenant calls a few hours after the listing goes up. He speaks politely, offers more than the asking rent, and says he cannot visit because of duty. The uniform photo and the ID are meant to end any doubt, as many owners are glad to trust a person who sounds disciplined and in a hurry.

Red flags to check on the app

• A tenant who will not visit the flat but pays an advance quickly.
• An ID or uniform photo offered as proof.
• A QR scan or PIN request to receive an advance.
• A 'Rs 1 test payment' that supposedly checks your account.
• It asks for accessibility, screen overlay, SMS or contacts without a clear reason.
• You were told to install it by a stranger or a caller.

What to do

1. Refuse any QR scan or PIN entry to receive money.
2. Ask for a visit and meet in person before accepting any advance.
3. Accept rent only through a transfer you can see credited in your own banking app.
4. Call your bank, and call 1930 if money moved.
5. Do not install it. If it is installed, uninstall it now (Settings, Apps).
6. Open Settings and check Accessibility, Device admin apps and Install unknown apps for anything you do not recognise.

Report the fake app to the store it came from and, if money moved, call 1930 and report at cybercrime.gov.in.

If money or a code is already gone

1. Call 1930 at once and report at cybercrime.gov.in.
2. Ask your bank, on the number on your card, to block UPI and net banking.
3. Change your UPI PIN and keep the listing page and chat as evidence.
4. Visit the police station with the number, the QR image and the transaction ids.

National Cyber Crime Helpline: 1930; report at cybercrime.gov.in.

Safeavio's QR check can scan a code you receive and show where it goes before you pay or approve, and the Money Shield checklist reminds you that receiving money never needs a PIN. The scam check on the chat text flags the rush and the QR request. Safeavio cannot verify an ID card or the person's identity, and it cannot return money sent.

Full guide: Army Transfer Tenant Advance Scam: how it works, signs and what to do. Other channels: phone call, WhatsApp, QR code.

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