6 in net for cyber bank robbery

Cyber crime police in Karnataka have arrested six of the 12 accused in a case of theft of Internet banking identities and passwords of 115 people from cyber cafes. The group, comprising a 27-year-old unemployed computer science diploma holder living in Bangalore and his accomplices, used free downloadable key-logger software on select computers in cyber cafes in Bangalore and Mysore to steal the identities of the victims.

The group is accused of siphoning off nearly Rs 12 lakh from 28 bank accounts in Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai since 2005, in what is being seen as the first serial cyber bank robbery using the key-logger software that enables computer users to track the keyboard usage trail of previous users of a machine.

The group recruited bank account holders for diversion of funds through multiple intermediaries, on the promise of sharing a percentage of the funds transferred. Cyber crime officials said they would be bringing cases against bank account holders who facilitated the cyber robberies as well.

Main accused Joseph, a native of Virudhanagar district in Tamil Nadu, has been living in Bangalore since 1999. The others arrested are Akbar, Hamid, Y K Mani, Chandru and Siddique. The cyber crime police in Bangalore, who received seven complaints of funds being siphoned out of accounts without the account holder's knowledge, caught Joseph red-handed while downloading keyboard data at a cyber café here. The police were investigating a complaint of the disappearance of Rs 1.27 lakh from the account of HR manager Carl Braganza.

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