Bengaluru cyber crime police have cracked a Rs 49-crore digital fraud targeting Whizdm Finance, a non-banking financial company. Two suspects were arrested, and Rs 10 crore was recovered and returned to the firm.
The fraud occurred on the night of August 6-7, when hackers breached Whizdm’s systems and siphoned money through 1,782 rapid transactions across 656 accounts. The company detected discrepancies during manual reconciliation and lodged a complaint on August 9. A police team led by Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime–2) Raja Imam Kasim P investigated the case.
The arrested suspects are Sanjay Patel (43) from Udaipur and Ismail Rasheed Attar (27) from Belagavi. Both allegedly created a VPN and multiple mule bank accounts to funnel the stolen funds, operating under instructions from two Dubai-based masterminds still at large. Patel, a plumber, and Attar, a digital marketing professional, assisted hackers hired from Hong Kong.
Police commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh described the case as a “professionally orchestrated international fraud.” The hackers exploited Whizdm’s API vulnerabilities to mimic legitimate loan disbursements ranging from Rs 3-5 lakh, avoiding internal alerts.
During investigations, Patel confessed to opening 656 first-layer mule accounts, receiving Rs 27.4 lakh in one account. Further tracing revealed Rs 5.5 crore routed through a Hyderabad-based firm before being scattered across shadow accounts. Attar confirmed the Dubai masterminds rented servers in Hong Kong and Lithuania to manipulate the API and coordinated via Telegram.
The investigation also showed that some mule accounts were opened using the identities of Indians in Dubai, who were paid between Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 to unknowingly participate in the scheme. Police continue efforts to apprehend the international masterminds.
