PUNE: The Kondhwa police on Thursday booked a Paytm user for stealing Rs2.86 lakh from the account of an electronic money transfer company.
The money was transferred to eight Paytm accounts between 7.06am and 9.59am on May 26, from the Geeglobia account of Arif Jabbar Bakali.
Bakali runs a business that recharges mobile numbers and set top box accounts and transfers money on a commission basis.
The office of his firm, Amico Enterprises, is located on the second floor of Konak Indrayu mall, above
State Bank of India, in Kondhwa.
Bakali has registered a complaint of cheating, among other offences, under the
Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act at the Kondhwa police station on Thursday.
Bakali is a distributor for Geeglobia India Private Limited (GIPL), whose product Geepay is an online money remittance service.
Bakali deposits money in GIPL’s bank account. In turn, this money is reflected as balance on Bakali’s GIPL account. Bakali uses this balance to forward money to his customers or retailers in the market.
“ I had received eight text messages that varying amounts was debited from the firm’s account on May 26,” Bakali stated in his complaint.
He immediately informed GIPL, who deactivated their software. GIPL told Bakali that an unidentified man used an e-wallet to transfer the money to eight Paytm accounts and shared details of those accounts.
After a GIPL inquiry established that Bakali’s account was hacked, Bakali registered an FIR under IPC section 420 (cheating) and sections 43 (gaining access to
computer network without seeking permission of the owner) and 66 (c) (fraudulent use of
electronic signature or password) of the Information Technology Act.
“I called the GIPL when I found that my balance was reduced by over Rs2.96 lakh. When I asked them how this happened, I was told verify whether I had received text messages, which my salesman confirmed. The company then got in touch with Paytm authorities and got the eight accounts frozen. By then, however, the fraudsters had managed to withdraw more than Rs80,000. I was told my account was hacked, but I don’t know how it happened. I also don’t know where the fraudster operated the e-wallet from,” Bakali told TOI.
“I have resumed business, reduced the balance amount with GIPL, even though the company has upgraded its security,” Bakali said, adding that he didn’t delay registering the FIR. “I had approached the police and cyber cell of Pune police immediately after the incident. My FIR was registered (only) after I made numerous rounds of the police station,” he added.
Senior inspector Milind Gaikwad, in charge of the Kondhwa police station, said, “We are seeking assistance of the cybercrime cell in the probe.”
Representative image 
