CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu cybercrime wing police have arrested two more men in connection with a courier scam case in which a Chennai woman lost ₹1.18 crore.
On August 2, Priya (name changed) received a call from a man impersonating an international courier firm's customer care executive. The fraudster falsely claimed that Priya's parcel contained prohibited items and transferred the call to another man posing as a cybercrime officer.The conman threatened her with legal repercussions unless she deposited funds into various bank accounts.
Fearing the consequences, the woman transferred ₹1.18 crore to multiple accounts before realising that she was conned. She filed an online complaint with the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP) and then lodged a complaint with the cybercrime wing headquarters in Chennai.
Acting on the complaint, the cybercrime wing registered an FIR. Primary investigations led to the arrest of Ramesh Bhadabhai, an account holder, and two cybercriminal agents identified as Vivek Beladiya Damajbhai and Paresh Narshibhai Kalsaria.
Further investigations resulted in the arrest of Vipul Bhagubhai Kovadiya from Gujarat who served as a mediator between the agents and the cybercriminals. Vipul disclosed the involvement of two agents based in Maharashtra, who were the primary face to face (F2F) agents in the case and had contact with the kingpin who is based in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Using advanced investigation techniques, the cybercrime police traced the two agents -- identified as Shahrukha Ebrahim Shaikh and Sahil Khudbuddin Attar -- to Kuruduwadi in Maharashtra. The police arrested them on Wednesday. The two men were brought to Chennai and lodged in Puzhal Central Prison on Friday.
The police discovered that Sahil installed an OTP APK file, a software code, in the bank account holder's phone, enabling fraudulent transfers so that he would receive the one-time password for transferring the funds without any hassle.