In a significant breakthrough, the Ahmedabad Cyber Crime unit has uncovered a major online fraud operation that resulted in the theft of Rs2.29 crore from a local company. The fraud, which took place in July 2022, involved a gang exploiting a company owner’s lost SIM card to carry out fraudulent net banking transactions. The investigation led to the arrest of a key suspect and revealed the gang’s connection to the notorious Munna Ansari gang from Uttar Pradesh.
The investigation began when authorities apprehended an individual from Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh. The fraudsters targeted the Neva Export Company’s account at Kalupur Co-operative Bank in Ahmedabad. They deactivated a registered mobile number and used net banking to carry out multiple unauthorized transactions, embezzling a total of Rs2.29 crore in a single day. During the probe, it was discovered that Rs3 lakh of the stolen funds had been transferred to an ICICI Bank account held by one Saurabh Yadav.
Upon further interrogation, Yadav disclosed that he had met Karthik Singh Durgapratap Singh during his time in prison in 2021. After his release, Singh contacted Yadav, requesting that he open a bank account to facilitate transactions related to the sale of Singh’s house. Yadav opened an account at ICICI Bank, provided the debit card and checkbook to Singh’s associate, Sonu. It was through this account that fraudulent transactions were conducted.
Based on Yadav’s testimony, the Cyber Crime unit tracked down Singh and arrested a suspect from Azamgarh. The investigation also revealed the involvement of the Munna Ansari gang, a criminal group notorious for online frauds.
The gang’s modus operandi involved hacking into company emails to obtain net banking passwords. They sent malware to target email accounts, then falsely claimed that the SIM card associated with the bank account had been lost. Once the SIM card was deactivated, the gang accessed the company’s bank account and made multiple fraudulent transfers. The fraudsters typically executed these schemes on weekends to avoid OTPs or messages from reaching the deactivated SIM card, buying them extra time before the company directors could detect the theft and request a new SIM card.
