Centre asks Google to remove hundreds of Firebase accounts used to mimic banks, exploit govt schemes
The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), an agency operating under the Ministry of Home Affairs, has directed Google to shut down hundreds of accounts on its Firebase web development platform, Reuters reported. The news agency said that criminals have been heavily misusing the service to masquerade as major Indian banks in order to steal sensitive financial details from victims.
This federal action comes as online theft spirals into one of India’s most pressing law enforcement challenges. Government figures cited by the wire service show that citizens lost almost 2.4 billion dollars to cyber fraud in 2025 alone. To counter this threat, the agency ordered the removal of at least 57 malicious websites and databases hosted on the platform in August. Scammers use these links to infect mobile phones with malware. They then swipe credit card details and one-time passwords from unsuspecting targets. Seven of these pages explicitly mimicked leading banks like State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, and Axis Bank, the news agency noted.
How the mobile phone hack works
Firebase is Google's highly popular app development platform, used by millions of legitimate developers worldwide to build apps and host websites. However, the report stated that fraudsters are migrating to it because of its capable database features and generous free options.
According to the news agency, scammers are even exploiting welfare schemes like PM-KISAN, which pays small farmers. Victims are lured into installing seemingly safe apps under the guise of redeeming their government payments. The malicious software then secretly uploads the user's personal data to a scammer-controlled database. This gives criminals near-total control over victims' devices, a severe vulnerability security experts call Android God Mode. Google stated it has strict policies against fraud and is actively working with law enforcement to act on these notices, Reuters reported.