Bank-fraud syndicate busted; 2 arrested

From earning a few thousands and barely being able to meet ends, three men quit their low-paying jobs and created a bank-fraud syndicate, pocketing crores of rupees.

In the process, they left a complex trail where there was no apparent connect between them and the targets, said the police.

While the three main accused continue to be on the run, the police have claimed to detect the modus operandi with the arrest of two of their accomplices based in Delhi and Ghaziabad.

The police swung into action after recently one fraud was reported to them and a team comprising sub inspectors Amit Solanki and Anjani led by Vasant Vihar SHO Somnath Paruthi was formed.

According to the police, Ranjit, Nepal Mandal and Shubham Mandal (all residents of Jamthada in Jharkhand) first accessed customer dump data in the bank records. They would then make calls to unsuspecting customers posing as bank employees and asking for confidential details which some shared.

“At once, they would empty large amounts, ranging in lakhs. However, transferring it to their own accounts involved risks, which is why they adopted a unique modus operandi, which saw the money pass through different channels – each independent of the other— before reaching them,” said the Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Ishwar Singh. Explaining this alleged route, another police officer said the accused had fraudulently obtained hundreds of fake SIM cards and registered themselves on payment gateways and mobile wallets such as PayTM, Pay U, Airtel, Ola, Oxygen, Mobills, Free Recharge and Yes Bank.

“They would divide the withdrawn amount from the bank accounts into smaller figures and would recharge dozens of these gateway accounts simultaneously. For instance, if they withdrew Rs. 1.5 lakh, they would divide the money into 15 such accounts of Rs. 10,000 each,” said the officer.

This was done to avoid RBI norms on fund transfers to these Gateways where for transfer of amounts exceeding Rs. 10,000, stringent norms are laid out.

The details of these recharged accounts were given to Subhash, a North-West Delhi-based shopkeeper, who recharged mobile phones of retail customers visiting his shop and would in return get hefty commissions, which was seven to eight times what the mobile phone companies would give him.

“In the process, the entire amount was converted into cash but even that was not received directly by the accused. Instead, Subhash transferred to one Ram Sharan Ray’s account and then Ram transferred the money to the main accused,” said the officer. The police have arrested both Subhash and Ram. On search, 16 mobile phones used in commission of crime and cash transfer vouchers of Rs. 1.30 crore were recovered from them. Another way in which they received the payments from Subhash was by ordering expensive gadgets such as iPhones online on his address and making him pay from the recharge money. The police are now looking whether this route could be used by tax evaders to channel their money elsewhere and evade taxes.

They first accessed customer dump data in the bank records and called customers posing as bank officials