Phishing racket uses tribal woman’s a/c to transfer money

The Cuffe Parade police have busted a phishing racket and arrested the mastermind from Jharkhand.

The accused, Vikash Kumar Das (35), has been produced in court on Monday which remanded him to the police custody till February 9.

The complainant, Manoj Solanki, had approached the police on December 22 saying that he had been duped of Rs 47,000 after receiving a fraudulent call. Solanki said he had given his Automated Teller Machine ( ATM) card details and PIN to the fraudster who posed himself as an employee of the bank in which Solanki has an account.

During investigation, it was found that the number from which Solanki received the call belonged to Kaustav Dhananjay Dey from West Bengal. A team was dispatched to West Bengal in search for Dey.

The gang would dial random mobile numbers and by posing as bank employees try to coax the victims into giving their debit/credit card details and PINs. After securing the card details, they would transfer the money from that account into a bank account in Jharkhand.

During investigation, it was found that the money Solanki lost was transferred through a money transfer app from Kulti village in West Bengal. Gurmeet Singh, an accomplice had transferred money from Solanki’s account into the bank account of one Monokia Devi Tudu, a Tribal woman from Jharkhand.

The arrested accused Das, his uncles and three friends had illegally procured prepaid SIM cards from dealers and returned them after using it, so that the SIM cards could be recycled. Das had approached the Tribals from his village and offered them help to open bank accounts. While the gang helped Tribals to open bank accounts, Das was in possession of their ATM cards and passbooks.

An officer from the Cuffe Parade police station said, “Das has been arrested. He was operating the racket along with family members and relatives who are also wanted accused in this case. We are trying to trace them.”