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Cosmos online theft: After 7th arrest, SIT probe covers other states
Investigation agency claims to have nabbed all involved from Maharashtra and will focus on suspects from Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat from where money was withdrawn.
PUNE Continuing with its crackdown on the money withdrawn in the Rs 94 crore Cosmos Bank online heist, the special investigation team (SIT) of the Pune police arrested a seventh person, Anthony Augustin from Mumbai, on Saturday.
With the arrest, the SIT has apprehended all involved from Maharashtra and will now focus on suspects from other states such as Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, from where money was withdrawn.
According to officials, the SIT is in possession of CCTV footage at ATMs where accused withdrew the amounts from. SIT teams are in place across the country to arrest suspects.
Earlier, the SIT arrested Shaikh Mohammad Abdul Jabbar (28) , resident of Mirza Colony in Aurangabad and Mahesh Sahebrao Rathod (22), a resident of Dhawari Tanda in Bhokar tehsil of Nanded; Kunal Shukla, Abdul Bhai, Ali alias Mohammad Saeed and Naresh Maharana. Deputy commissioner of police (EOW and cyber cell ) Jyotipriya Singh said the ramification of the scam is both national and international in nature.
“We have arrested the accused who have withdrawn the fraud money by using cloned debit cards of Cosmos Bank. Now the arrests will focus on other parts of the country where similar cloned cards were used to withdraw money from ATMs,” said Singh.
SIT officials feel that cyber criminals with intimate knowledge of bank data had been working on carrying out the online heist for the past year. As many as 12,000 transactions worth Rs 78 crore and 2,849 transactions worth Rs 2.50 crore through Rupay Debit cards and three transactions worth Rs 13.92 crore, totally estimated to be Rs 94.42 crore, were done during the fraud.
It was on August 14 that Cosmos Bank publicly revealed the theft of Rs 94.42 crore from the pool account by a multinational hacking ring on August 11 and August 13.
In the first hit, the bank lost an aggregate of Rs 80.50 crore in multiple ATM swipes in 28 countries, while in the second cyber assault, the hackers siphoned off Rs 13.92 crore via Swift transfers.
An FIR was lodged against unidentified persons by the bank’s managing director Suhas Subhash Gokhale (53) under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 379 (theft), 420 (cheating),120 (B) (conspiracy) and 34 and Sections 43,65,66 (C) and 66 (D) of the Information Technology Act at Chatuhshrungi police station.
