Online fraud: Two steal lakhs from bank accounts via net banking, held

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police arrested two persons on the charge of stealing money from bank accounts of several persons through net banking, after accessing their account details.

The accused, identified as Mohammad Mirza Ali (39) and Pritam Mishra (27), allegedly accessed the victims' bank accounts via net banking and transferred their money into other accounts.

According to police, the duo also used to fraudulently deactivate the SIM cards of the victims' mobile phones whenever they made such transactions.

Police began investigations after one Dr Vijay Kher approached them and alleged that someone had transferred approximately Rs 20 lakh out of his account with YES Bank through net banking on the night of October 19. He told police that his mobile phone was also inactive when the transaction happened. Kher claimed he found out about the transaction only after his mobile phone was re-activated.

During investigations, it was found that the one-time password (OTP) that is sent on the registered mobile number of the account holder by the bank (required for all net banking transactions) in this case was not received by the complainant. Rather, it went to the accused, who in turn misused it for online transactions.

"The OTP was not received by the complainant because the cellphone of the complainant had been inactive. Meanwhile, the alleged persons got a duplicate SIM card of the complainant issued. After getting the OTP through the duplicate SIM, these criminals transferred the money through internet-banking to various bank accounts opened using fake identities," Joint Commissioner of Police (EOW) Sandeep Goel said.

Police found that several account holders with different banks were cheated using a similar modus operandi in several cities. A trap was laid and the accused were nabbed by a team of officers.

... contd.

ALSO READ

Banks not to pass on rate cut benefit

More RBI rate cuts coming, says P. Chidambaram

Money laundering case: Compliance of KYC norms must, says RBI on Cobrapost expose

Indian rupee down 17 paise vs US dollar in early trade