Pune court convicts 11 accused in Cosmos Bank cyber fraud case
Eleven people have been convicted and sentenced to different periods of imprisonment and fines for their connection with a 2018 malware attack on Cosmos Cooperative Bank in Pune, India. The attack saw roughly INR94 crore ($12.5m) being stolen in seven hours through thousands of ATM transactions in India and 28 other countries. The hackers used cloned debit cards.
A Pune court has convicted 11 persons in connection with the 2018 malware attack on Cosmos Cooperative Bank, headquartered in Pune, in which approximately ₹94 crore was siphoned off in seven straight hours via thousands of ATM transactions carried out from India and 28 other countries using cloned debit cards of the bank.
The court of judicial magistrate (first class) Akshi Jain convicted the 11 accused and sentenced them to different periods of imprisonment along with fines of varying amounts. Those convicted include: Fahim Mehfooz Sheikh, Fahim Azim Khan, Sheikh Mohammad Abdul Jabbar, Mahesh Sahebrao Rathod, Naresh Lakshminarayan Maharana, Mohammad Syed Iqbal Hussain Jafri alias Ali, Eustace Augustine Vaz, Abdula Afsar Ali Sheikh, Bashir Ahmed Abdul Aziz Shaikh, Salman Mohammad Naeem Baig and Firoz Yasin Shaikh.
Of the 11, Fahim Sheikh, Fahim Khan, Sheikh Jabbar, Mahesh Rathod, Naresh Maharana, Mohammad Jafri, and Eustace Vaz have been sentenced to simple imprisonment for four years; a fine of ₹50,000; simple imprisonment for three days in default of fine; simple imprisonment for three years under the Information Technology (IT) Act along with a fine of ₹100; and simple imprisonment for three days in default of fine. Whereas Abdula Sheikh and Bashir Shaikh have been sentenced to simple imprisonment for four years and simple imprisonment for three years, respectively, along with fines under the IT Act. Salman Baig and Firoz Shaikh have been sentenced to simple imprisonment for three years under the IT Act along with a fine. One of the accused had died before the pronouncement of the judgment.
Judge Akshi Jain passed the order on April 15 and made it available on Saturday. “The lawyer of the accused said that the accused have been languishing in jail for many years and their period of incarceration must be taken into account while sentencing. However, the prosecutor stated that taking into account the serious nature of the crime, maximum punishment must be awarded. Heard both sides, taking into account the condition of the accused, I am of the opinion of a lesser sentence for the accused. They have spent considerable time in jail and in the interest of justice, it is not appropriate to repeat the years already spent in prison,” the order stated.
Additional commissioner of police Ramnath Pokale said, “We had strong digital evidence against the accused and it was submitted before the court. The court accepted our evidence which led to the conviction of the 11 arrested accused in the case.”
On August 14, 2018, Cosmos Cooperative Bank had reported a malware attack on its online banking system stating that unidentified hackers siphoned off ₹94.42 crore through ATMs and online transfers. The bank revealed details of the attack stating that a multinational hacking ring on August 11 and August 13, 2018, siphoned off the said amount from the pool account. The bank first lost an aggregate of ₹80.50 crore following multiple ATM swipes in 28 countries whereas in the second attack, the hackers stole ₹13.92 crore through SWIFT transfers. Meanwhile, the Maharashtra government constituted a special investigation team (SIT) headed by the then deputy commissioner (cyber and economic offences wing/EOW) Jyotipriya Singh to probe the cyber heist.
The cyber investigation found that the accused had stolen private data related to RuPay debit and Visa cards, and cloned the debit cards. The accused had transferred Rs78 crores outside India using the cloned debit cards and siphoned off cash worth ₹2.50 crore from different ATMs. The accused had transferred the amount to a foreign bank account, but the police were able to freeze the account with the assistance of the Hong Kong police. At the same time, the accused in India had withdrawn the amount using cloned debit cards, the cyber police release stated.
After investigating the case, the police arrested 18 accused from Kolhapur, Ajmer, Indore, and Mumbai. The police filed a chargesheet in court with the help of CCTV footage and technical investigation. The heist case was investigated under the guidance of additional commissioner of police Pradeep Deshpande; deputy commissioner of police (cyber and EOW) Jyotipriya Singh; DCP (crime) Sambhaji Kadam; ACP Shivaji Pawar; police inspector Jairam Paigude; sub-inspector Sagar Panmand; and constables Aslam Attar, Santosh Jadhav among others.