Two persons have been arrested by the Pydhonie police for allegedly cheating several persons by hacking the email accounts of the victims and siphoning off money from their bank account.

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The police have come across a very interesting modus operandi which the gang used to con people. The gang used to commit cyber crime on Saturdays to ensure that the victims would not be able to trace them immediately.

The arrested duo has been identified as Mohammad Zahid Abdul Qadir Dadani and Arif Mohammad Yaqub, both residents of Pydhonie and Dongri areas.

According to the police, on October 21, a doctor who runs a dispensary in Pydhonie had registered a complaint, stating that money had been transferred from his bank account by someone, after blocking his SIM card.

“The gang used to get details of the victims from the mobile company, hack their email accounts, forge documents transferring the mobile numbers of the victims on the name of someone (gang members), submit them to the mobile company, block the original SIM card, and get a new SIM card of the same number from the mobile company,” said senior police inspector Shamsher Pathan of Pydhonie police station.

He added that after getting that number, they used to hack and access the online bank account of the victim. “The gang then used to siphon off money. The gang has been operating since October 16, and since then they have committed three such crimes in Mumbai and one in Pune. In Mumbai, they cheated a Mulund-based senior citizen of Rs82,000 and two Andheri residents of Rs1 lakh and Rs1.60 lakh respectively, in similar fashion,” said the officer.

Explaining the gang’s modus operandi, the officer said they used to specifically commit the crime on Saturdays. “The reason behind this was that when the victims would realise that their SIM card has been blocked, they would not be able to check with the mobile company about this, as offices would be closed and would open only on Monday. By that time, the gang would siphon off the money from their account,” said the officer.

“One of the arrested persons used to work with a mobile phone gallery earlier, and knew the loopholes through which names, addresses and other details of the victims can be procured. The duo were identified and arrested a few days ago on receipt of specific information. We are yet to nab the kingpin behind the racket, and we also suspect that people from the mobile companies and banks may be connected to this racket,” said another police officer.