Himachal: E-wallet-linked numbers, bank data, Aadhaar cards recovered from two arrested for cyber fraud

The police said that Vishal was a certified Vodafone-Idea telecom retailer and a Fino bank agent, who used the finger prints and Aadhhar IDs of his customers to open payments bank accounts, which were then used for receiving the fraudulently transferred money. The alleged fraudsters also “bought” the nationalised bank’s data for Rs 5,000 – Rs 10,000 per account holder, the police have learnt.

The case came to light in August last year, when one Bhawan Kumar faced an issue while withdrawing money from an ATM in Nerchowk, Mandi. He called up the bank’s helpline number to register his grievance. The next day, he received a call from Pradhuman who posed as a bank official to elicit his account details. Pradhuman also induced him into porting his mobile number to Vodafone-Idea.

“He got it ported to a SIM card that he had. As the number was linked to the victim’s account, Pradhuman quickly activated the netbanking facility and transferred Rs 24 lakh to 20-22 e-wallets registered on fake IDs. The money was further transferred to payments bank accounts, opened by Vishal using his customers’ finger prints and credentials. It was almost a master stroke as they left little scope for tracing them,” said State Cyber Crime DSP Narveer Rathore.

Cat-and-mouse chase

A cyber police team led by Rathore landed in Purulia, based on the mobile number used to call the victim. It was registered under a local resident’s name, who had no idea his identification was misused. The police soon found that the e-wallets and banks to which the money had been transferred were also issued under the name of some Purulia residents. From the telecom company’s records, the police found that the retail agent issuing the SIM cards linked to the bank accounts had given a fake address in the common application forms.

However, the name was real. The breakthrough came when local customers identified the agent’s name and directed the police to a telecom retail shop on Gaushala Road. The police raided the shop and arrested Vishal on February 22, learning from him that he had not only saved photo records of his customers’ Aadhaar cards but had also duped them into submitting their finger prints on a digital device.

Officials said that Vishal had an accomplice Pradhuman, the main accused, who at the time was operating from Kolkata, around 300 kilometres away. They boarded a train but sometime before they reached his location, he got a whiff and fled.

The police then traced his mobile location to Begusarai, where the 22-year-old was building a house to settle down. With the help of Vishal and the local police, the cyber officials traced him and recovered several high-end mobile phones and a laptop from his house, which had extensive records of mobile numbers and bank details. An official said that Pradhuman used to buy data from a vast network of people who had access to it.

For instance, the nationalised bank’s data was leaked from an outsourced company, which operates the bank’s helpline, and sold to Pradhuman, who then accessed the victim’s balance, account details, and the linked mobile number before targeting him.

Officials said that such data leaks are becoming common across the country due to factors such as outsourcing of operations by banks and telecom companies. In December, several employees of telecom employees were arrested in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, for activating thousands of SIM cards under fictitious names and selling them to fraudsters. Another challenge before cyber officials is the increasing use of payments banks and e-wallets, which often only require minimum credentials and a mobile number to get activated.

“We’re now investigating whether these two people duped others and what the e-wallet data was used for. Pradhuman is wanted in two other cases in West Bengal as well,” said Rathore.