They were allegedly part of a network that hacked into the bank account of a Noida businessman and then transferred his money to their own accounts.
In what seems like a slice from celluloid, Noida police on Wednesday arrested five well-heeled men with postgraduate degrees in either management or computer applications, who allegedly were part of a cyber racket. The racket, headed by an unidentified hacker, transferred a sum of Rs 1.66 crore from the account of Pawan Kumar Aggarwal. Police are yet to track the hacker.
Aggarwal, a railway contractor, runs PPS International that deals in locomotive parts. He had lodged a complaint with local police informing about “the illegal transfer of Rs 1.66 crore from his company’s account with Punjab National Bank’s Noida branch on October 11 by suspected hackers,” said senior superintendent of police R.K. Chaturvedi.
The police claimed to have recovered Rs 55 lakh from the men’s accounts — roughly one-third of the total sum transferred. Chaturvedi, the five had “spent” the rest of the money.
Among those arrested were Sevia Derochlobo (from Goa), Mitul Trivedi (Pune), Bharat Bhai Patel, Uday Kapadia and Yogi Anjani Bhandari (all from Mumbai).
Chaturvedi said a probe was on to net the hacker and his accomplices and issued a caution to banks and those using Internet banking facilities: “The banks should check loopholes if any in their security systems to ensure no body could hack into their customers’ accounts. Those using Internet banking facilities should be more cautious, change their passwords at regular intervals and do not share it with anyone.”