The Delhi Police on Monday arrested a member of a gang who duped people by seeking their credit and debit card details and then transferred the money into e-wallet accounts, the police said.
The gang would replace people’s registered mobile number in the bank’s database with their own and then generate an OTP to use the e-wallet and complete the transaction. After getting the money, they would restore the original customer’s mobile number.
They changed mobile phones and SIM cards frequently in order to avoid detection, said the police.
Accused Gaurav Sharma, a resident of Noida, was traced using advanced technical surveillance and digital profiling. He is pursuing a BSc from a college in Mathura in Uttar Pradesh.
He was part of the gang involved in online cheating, said Chinmoy Biswal, DCP (South-East).
‘Based on a complaint’
“We have procured 55 SIM cards, five mobile phones, eight credit and debit cards, and 11 cheque books from his possession,” said Mr. Biswal.
On January 20, a woman filed a complaint at Lajpat Nagar police station stating that she had received a call from a man who introduced himself as an ICICI bank employee from Mumbai.
The man said he had to verify her account details. Following this, she received an SMS of two transfers of ₹9,999 each from her account to an e-wallet.
A case as registered and was transferred to district Cyber Cell.
Digital profiling
A police team conducted technical surveillance and zeroed in on the IP address used for transferring the amount into an e-wallet from the victim’s bank account.
“We raided a house in Noida and the accused was detained. When confronted with evidence, he confessed to his involvement in the crime. Later, he was arrested,” said Mr. Biswal.
During a search of his house, one of his laptops which had the applications and e-wallets used for transferring the amounts was found in a switched on condition.
Details so far have revealed that the accused made fraudulent transactions of nearly ₹75 lakh to his e-wallets, said the police.
