Eight arrested for duping several people by using “update KYC” modus

According to the police, the complainant in one such case received a message on his mobile phone from an unknown number regarding his bank account being blocked if he would not update his PAN Card details. The message also contained a link suggesting updating PAN Card

MUMBAI: Eight persons were arrested in the last 12 days for their alleged involvement in duping several people after sending them messages in the name of banks and asking them to update their KYC. The cyber police said they have solved at least 24 fraud cases registered in the city.

Eight arrested for duping several people by using “update KYC” modus

The police had undertaken a special drive after receipt of several cyber frauds committed by using the “update KYC” modus.

“All eight accused were arrested in the last 12 days by four police teams that visited several places in Jharkhand, West Bengal and Maharashtra. Further investigation is going on” said deputy commissioner of police Balsingh Rajput.

According to the police, the complainant in one such case received a message on his mobile phone from an unknown number regarding his bank account being blocked if he would not update his PAN Card details. The message also contained a link suggesting updating PAN Card. The victim opened the link and saw the customer’s user ID, password and mobile number options were shown on the website. The victim put in his bank’s user-id, password and mobile number and got an OTP. After keying in the OTP, he received a message that ₹99,999 was debited from his bank account, said a police officer.

Using a similar modus operandi, the accused had duped the second victim who also received a message on his mobile number ‘Dear Customer Your--- Bank account has been suspended today please update your PAN card immediately, and there was a link. The victim opened the link and during the process to update his PAN Card, he got OTP, after putting in the OTP, ₹1 lakh was debited from the victim’s bank account. During the investigation, police found that the accused are from Mumbai and arrested three accused Mithun Kumar Mandal, 23, a resident of Bhandup, Rohit Mandal, 32, and Jogeshwar Mandal, 32, both living in Koliwada, Worli.

After questioning the trio, police learnt that the fourth accused, Bablu Somar Mandal, 26, lives in Kolkata and a police team immediately rushed there based on the electronic devices, Bablu Mandal was arrested from 24 South Pargana, Kolkata. Bablu Mandal is a native of Giridih district in Jharkhand.

During interrogation, Bablu Mandal revealed another name Amitkumar Arvindnath Chaudhary, 40, a resident of Bhayander East and was running a call centre in Palghar. The police raided his call centre and seized electronic devices.

The cyber police received a complaint from a third victim who was also duped of ₹2.34 lakh while updating his bank KYC. While investigating this case, the cyber police got the lead and arrested accused Manoj Raju Kisku, 23, from Girdih, Jharkhand and while scrutinising his bank details police found that ₹2.34 lakh was transferred to his bank account which was debited from the victim, said a police officer.

While investigating the fourth case registered by another victim who lost ₹99,998 from the bank while updating KYC, the police got the leads of the accused in Jharkhand and Kolkata. A police team also visited there and after inquiring they learnt that the accused Mohammad Afsar Jama was behind the fraud he was arrested by Kolkata police’s anti-bank fraud detection branch on March 7, 2023, and was in judicial custody. The police then completed the legal formalities and took the accused’s custody from Kolkata.