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Mumbai: Top railway cop’s mail account hacked, 2 held

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The cyber crime cell of Mumbai police have arrested two people, including a Nigerian national, on charges of hacking into the email account of a top railway police officer and sending out distress mails, seeking money.

The police said one of the persons known to the officer, T S Bahl, senior additional director general of police (railways), even deposited nearly Rs3 lakh into an account mentioned in the con mail.

The fraudsters have been identified as Deepak Sethiya, 32, a resident of Udaipur, and Cyril Theophilius Okeke, 29, a resident of MHADA Colony in Malad.

According to the police sources, ADGP Bhal had on December 18, 2012 a complaint with the cyber crime cell, stating that his mail account had been compromised and several distress mails were sent to people on his contact list.

“The contents of the emails were such – he is in America and his bag was stolen in which he lost all his money, passport and other valuable documents. He required urgent money and requested to make payments in a given bank account.

“One of his friend, Subhash Acharya, who had also received the phishing email and was provided three bank account numbers to deposit money and had deposited Rs2.60lakh in the account. All the bank accounts were of Udaipur based banks,” said joint commissioner of police, crime, Himanshu Roy.

The sources said as cyber crime sleuths began looking into the bank accounts provided in the phishing mails, another person known to Bahl approached them with a similar complaint. The cops found that the accounts had been opened at the behest of Sethiya, but in a layered manner.

For instance, the account holders were unaware who Sethiya was. They had opened the accounts just for a commission from someone, who was directly in touch with Sethiya, the police said.

According to an officer, privy to the investigation, “Sethiya got some bank accounts opened saying he knew hawala traders and money belonging to some politicians would be deposited in the accounts. He had promised good commission for the transactions.” After tracking Sethiya’s mobile number, the cops arrested him at Mumbai airport on Tuesday.

The officer said they found the mobile number of a Nigerian national in Sethiya’s phone. “Sethiya told us that the said foreigner was involved in hacking and lottery frauds and gave commission to him on successful bank transactions. Sethiya had come to Mumbai to collect his commission.” Sethiya then guided the police to Okeke’s flat in Malwani.

The police suspect the duo has collected between Rs70 lakh and Rs 80 lakh with the help of phishing mails. “We have found several bank accounts across the country in which the money was deposited and are gathering details about it,” said Inspector Mukund Pawar of the cyber crime cell. He added that they would be making more arrests in connection with the case.

Layers created to avoid detection
Cops found that the accounts had been opened at the behest of Sethiya, but in a layered manner. The account holders were unaware who Sethiya was. They had opened the accounts just for a commission from someone, who was directly in touch with Sethiya, the police said.

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