Five persons, including Nigerian, arrested for online banking fraud

According to police, the co-operative bank located on Dr Nanjappa Road maintained two current accounts in a private bank. On January 5, the gang transferred Rs 80.50 lakh from the accounts to different banks in Kolkata through net banking. 

“The fraudsters had deactivated the mobile number of the co-operative bank’s manager by furnishing fake documents to the cell phone company. As his mobile phone was deactivated, he did not receive any alerts on money transactions carried out in the accounts. They had also obtained a fake SIM with the same number to execute the fraud,” police said. 

The bank manager, who later came to know of the missing money, then approached the cybercrime police. In a similar incident, the gang had withdrawn Rs 15.37 lakh from the account of a couple running a private hospital on Tiruchy Road in 2017 after deactivating their mobile number.

The five members of the gang were identified as Santhosh Banerji, Rajath Gundu, Santhan Varma, Ankan Saha, all hailing from Kolkata, and Nigerian Odosh Henry. They were arrested recently by the Cyberabad police in connection with a similar case in Telangana. The main accused, identified as James, is suspected to be hiding in Nigeria. 

“Inquiries revealed that the accused hacked into online bank accounts to gather information and transfer money. They were involved in several cases in Tamil Nadu and other States. The arrested men confessed to have removed money from the accounts of the co-operative bank and the private hospital,” police added.