Junagadh firm loses Rs Rs 49L in cyber fraud

Rajkot: Junagadh police busted a gang involved in committing cyber fraud with big companies and siphoning off huge amounts from the firms’ bank accounts. The gang from West Bengal had recently transferred Rs 49 lakh from the bank account of a Junagadh-based company.

The cyber crime cell of Junagadh police received a complaint from the owner of a ball bearing company in GIDC about the fraud on December 5. In his complaint, Hitesh Solanki said that the company was maintaining a current account in a private bank.

The accused gang secured the net banking ID and password of this company and also used the owner’s fake Aadhaar card to buy a duplicate SIM card

to get the OTP (one time password) during transaction.

The gang, thereafter, transferred Rs 49 lakh in three different bank accounts initiating eight RTGS transactions using the netbanking credentials. This amount was later transferred in 12 other bank accounts and withdrawn by using ATM cards and self withdrawal cheques from the banks’ branches in West Bengal.

Junagadh SP, Ravi Teja Vasamsetty told TOI, “They sent a person of similar appearance to the store of a telecom company to issue a duplicate SIM card on fake Aadhaar details. They transferred the amount to the bank accounts at different locations; most of them being in West Bengal and some in Delhi.”

A team of Junagadh police went to West Bengal and arrested Suklal Talukdar and Basudeb Bacchar in whose accounts a portion of the fraud amount had been transferred. They used to get a commission of Rs 2,000 per one lakh rupees to allow their accounts to be used. However, the mastermind of the fraud is still at large, said cops.