cyber theft

In Ahmedabad, a major online fraud has been uncovered involving a gang that exploited a company owner’s lost SIM card in July 2022 to steal ₹2.29 crore through net banking. The Ahmedabad Cyber Crime unit arrested a suspect and discovered connections to the Munna Ansari gang from Uttar Pradesh. An additional suspect, identified as a sharpshooter from Munna Ansari’s gang, was also revealed. Cyber Crime officials have launched further investigations into the case.

The Ahmedabad Cyber Crime unit initiated an investigation after detaining an individual from Azamgarh, UP. The fraud involved the gang transferring funds to various bank accounts.

The perpetrators targeted the Neva Export Company’s account at Kalupur Co-operative Bank in Ahmedabad. They deactivated a registered mobile number and used net banking to carry out eight transactions in a single day, embezzling ₹2.29 crore. During the investigation, it was discovered that ₹3 lakh was transferred to an ICICI Bank account under the name of Saurabh Yadav. Based on this information, the police arrested Yadav. He revealed that he had been imprisoned in Azamgarh in 2021 and met Karthik Singh Durgapratap Singh while in jail. After his release, Yadav was contacted by Singh, who needed a bank account for transferring funds related to the sale of his house. Yadav opened an ICICI Bank account in his name and provided the debit card and checkbook to Singh’s associate Sonu. Singh and his team then used this account for fraudulent transactions. Following this lead, the police arrested the suspect from Azamgarh and discovered the involvement of Munna Ansari’s gang in the fraud.

The gang’s scheme involved hacking company emails to obtain net banking passwords. They sent malware to the company’s email accounts, hacked them, and falsely claimed that the SIM card was lost to have it deactivated. After deactivating the SIM card, they accessed the company's bank account to conduct fraudulent transactions. The gang typically executed these frauds on weekends to avoid OTPs or messages reaching the deactivated SIM card, preventing the company directors from quickly issuing a new SIM card.