Bihar man held for Rs 94-lakh fraud by ‘hacking’ Vodafone Idea email id

“We had recently received a complaint from Vodafone Idea that an unknown person had hacked into the official email id of the company and then sent an official mail within internal server of Vodafone Idea to request for a sim replacement for the registered mobile number for netbanking of Vodafone Idea at Nutan Nagarik Sahkari Bank. The accused had then credited Rs 94.57 lakh from various bank accounts of Vodafone Idea,” said an officer of Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Cell.

According to police, the accused Gulshan Singh had used a virtual private network (VPN) to hack into the official id and subsequently hide his device location.

“In the investigation, we analyzed as many as 80 cell phone devices and 70 mobile phone numbers. Out of the analysis, only one phone had the IP address of Gaya in Bihar. Using technical intelligence, we picked up the accused from his residence. He has told us in investigation that after hacking into the official server id of Vodafone Idea, the accused sent a mail claiming loss of sim card registered for netbanking of the telecom giant. The accused received the new sim card, swiped it in his phone and got hold of netbanking password of Vodafone Idea to make withdrawals from bank accounts,” the officer said.

“He has also revealed that he has pursued BSc in Chemistry at Magadh University in Bihar and he works with different groups to commit such frauds wherein his share is 40 per cent cut. We have also seized nine cell phones, eight sim cards, a handwritten transcript of the fake email sent by accused and various records of fraud committed in the past. The accused has been brought to Ahmedabad today after a four day transit remand was granted by a local court,” the officer added