Mumbai: A publisher of school books was conned of Rs 3.3 Crores from his bank account after the miscreant used a sim card fraudulently acquired and started receiving OTPs for transactions.
The cyber police arrested the accused on Saturday after the businessman approached the police with the cheating complaint on July 12 for the transactions between July 7-9, India Today reports.
The cyber cell then used the digital trail of the transactions to nab the accused a resident of Govandi.
The accused works as a smalltime constructions
contractor knew the businessman and had information on him including his mobile
phone number.
He reportedly approached the mobile service provider and pretended to be the businessman and requested that his number be blocked as he lost his cellphone.
He then submitted duplicate documents proving himself as the business man and acquired the new sim.
“He
put the SIM in his phone and began transacting from the businessman’s bank
account, using OTPs sent through the new SIM card to validate the
transactions,” said an officer.
The police are investigating to how the accused
got his hands on the business man’s identity documents including his Aadhar
Card number.
An officer working on the case said the crime had all the signs of a syndicate operation. “Several persons are suspected to be involved. It’s not easy for anyone to get someone else’s bank account details and also identity cards. Shaikh’s arrest is just the beginning of our probe,” he said.
The investigating officers are now probing where the accused duplicated the documents.
Of the Rs 3.3 crore stolen, at least Rs 25 lakh was transferred to Shaikh’s own account. “He used around Rs 1.5 lakh to buy gold and around Rs 4 lakh for other things. We have written to the bank to freeze his account,” said DCP Vishal Thakur (cyber police).