CA arrested for duping thousands through fake UP transport website

NOIDA: Noida Police cyber cell department has arrested a Chartered Accountant for allegedly making a fake website of the UP transport department and duping thousands of people by asking them to deposit sales tax through the link given on the hoax website. According to police, the arrested accused has been identified as Rajat Kuchhal, a resident of Sector 40 in Noida. He was arrested during a raid by police on Sunday evening. “The information of fake website was passed on to Noida police from traffic directorate in Lucknow who received the complaint from a Bengaluru based cybersecurity expert,” said a senior police officer from the cyber cell department. “During sustained investigations, it came to light that the accused had created a fake domain (echallanparivahan.in) of UP transport department through a vendor. The accused had allegedly sourced data of sales taxpayers and uploaded it on the website and had been sending bulk messages to the gullible payers asking them to deposit their tax. After clicking on the link, the vehicle owners would be directed to the website and would make payments there,” the officer added. Police are yet to ascertain the exact amount through which the accused had duped people but a senior police officer informed Millennium Post that he had been operating the domain for almost a year and has duped thousands of people with more than Rs 1 crore estimated to have been stolen this way.