Phisher held for Rs8.5 lakh fraud

A 25-year-old man has been arrested by the cyber crime police in a phishing fraud case. The suspect had prepared a bogus netbanking page of a private bank and sent it to a businessman. He later transferred Rs8.50 lakh from the man’s accounts to 14 other accounts.

The arrested man has been identified as Arfeen Mehmood Sayyed and is in police custody till July 19.

According to the police, complainant (name withheld) is an iron and steel merchant. He has a current account in a private bank.

On May 3, the complainant received an email and the mail made inquiries regarding his bank details. “The victim believed the email was sent from the bank, so he gave all details such as password, email ID and mobile number,” said a police officer.

“On June 1, when the complainant tried to open his internet banking account, he could access it. He then requested the bank for another password and on the next day he received a call from the bank that informed him of Rs8.5 lakh being debited from his account,” the officer said.

He added that, the victim then requested the bank to disable his net banking facility.

“He further learned that between June 2 and June 8 his money was transferred to 14 different bank accounts. He then submitted a written complaint to the crimebranch,” said the officer.

The cyber crime police then got details of all the accounts that the money was transferred to and questioned one of the account holders.

“The account holder told us that Sayyed had asked him to lend his account for a transaction of Rs25,000. He also told us that Sayyed would be meeting him in a hotel near Seawood railway station. Accordingly, a trap was laid and Sayyed was arrested,” the officer said.