KYC experts used slum dwellers’ IDs to open bank accounts: Police

Police sources said that the accused had also deceived the income tax and GST authorities, and these agencies would conduct a separate probe into the offences. The police estimate the volume of transactions to be ₹16,181.41 crore, and are investigating the source of this money

THANE CYBERFRAUD CASE

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THANE: After the Thane police booked five people in a cyber fraud case in which a huge amount was transacted through 260 bank accounts, investigations on Monday revealed that two of the five accused were employed with the banks and were experts in the KYC process. The two lured slum dwellers and opened bank accounts in their names before transacting large amounts of money.

Police sources said that the accused had also deceived the income tax and GST authorities, and these agencies would conduct a separate probe into the offences. The police estimate the volume of transactions to be ₹16,181.41 crore, and are investigating the source of this money.

In July, HT had exclusively reported a cyber fraud which happened through the escrow account of a payment gateway company, in which ₹25 crore were siphoned off. While investigating the crime, it was found that of the ₹25 crore, an amount of ₹1.39 crore had been transferred to Riyal Enterprises, a company with offices at Vashi and Belapur, after which a cheating case was filed against the owners. The investigations showed that some of the 260 bank accounts used by Riyal Enterprises and its five partnership firms belonged to economically underprivileged people.

One of the accused, Amol Andhale, worked as a sales manager with several banks. “Amol was adept at the KYC process,” said a senior Thane police official. “He obtained documents like Aadhar and pan cards from slum dwellers and opened bank accounts in their names and then transferred money from there. Another accused, Kedar Dighe, had experience as a relationship manager. On the pretext of giving slum dwellers bank loans, he got them to open multiple accounts in various banks. Most of the money the accused transferred abroad is black money.”

Punjabrao Ugale, joint commissioner of police, Thane Police, said that accounts were opened in private banks as well. Our investigation showed that they transacted ₹350 crore through a prominent private bank,” he said.

Ugale said that the police found cheque books of the 260 bank accounts at the Riyal Enterprises office and discovered that ₹16,180 crore had been transacted in these accounts, including in US dollars.