3 held in Kolkata for defrauding Ahmedabad businessman of Rs 1.1 cr: Police

“The fraud worth Rs 1.19 crore happened two months back. The victim did not realise when the amount was transferred from his account. His SIM card was blocked. He only got to know after two days,” said Jitendra Yadav, Ahmedabad cyber crime branch assistant commissioner of police. An FIR was filed in the case in March. The accused have been booked under IPC sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and various sections of IT act.

The whole amount was transferred to the account of one of the accused, who, after withdrawing Rs 20,000, transferred the remaining amount to the second accused, who repeated the act before transferring the same to the third accused. “The last accused transferred the remaining amount to someone else. We are investigating that,” said Yadav. The police also suspect the involvement of Nigerian nationals in the case. Around Rs 60 lakh of the Rs 1.19 crore was found with the accused, the police added.

Based on the evidence found on their phones and laptops, the gang seems to have casted their net across the country. The cyber crime branch is also probing their possible involvement in similar crimes. “Gang members are present in banks and phone companies as well. The credentials of the victims are extracted through them. We are also investigating the source of their data. It is an input-based crime,” Yadav said.

The victims are usually businessmen, the ACP informed. “Their (Businessmen’s) accountants look after the transactions. Such frauds start through emails, which are received in the form of invoices. As soon as one clicks on the mail, the hidden bug hacks the device. The device is observed by these hackers for a month, and before getting the credentials of the victim. Then they block the SIM using these details and replace it. The only thing needed for the money transfer is the one-time-password. This they get by blocking the SIM. The OTP is received on the replaced SIM, which is with them,” Yadav explained.

Transactions and passbooks were also seized from the accused by the police as evidence for the transfer made in the case.