BENGALURU: Within a week, two unusual and yet similar cases were reported to the Cyber Crime cell under the Central Crime Branch (CCB). The new modus operandi of siphoning off funds from accounts have left both cops and bank officials puzzled.
The director of Mysore Silk Cloth Merchants’ Co-operative Bank Limited found his fixed deposit account of ` 83 lakh with HDFC Bank converted to a loan account. The amount had disappeared into three or four online wallets and later to various bank accounts in Delhi.
Cyber crime inspector M Chandrappa said the amount was transferred using internet banking. The police suspect bank insiders’ involvement in the crime. He added that forensic investigation will also be carried out. A similar case involved donations made to an NGO -- Hira Foundation -- which vanished in a similar manner via internet banking. Around ` 45 lakh was channelled from Dena Bank to an unknown account holder in Gujarat, via RTGS banking, in nine transactions -- three ` 10 lakh and three ` 5 lakh transactions. On multiple days, ` 20-25 lakh was withdrawn from an ATM in Delhi, while the rest was transferred to various other bank accounts in Kolkata.
By default, only 40 notes can be withdrawn from an ATM in one attempt. With ` 2,000 being the highest denominator, Rs 80,000 can be withdrawn in a single attempt. Surprisingly, the victim, an 80-year-old in charge of the foundation, did not receive any SMS alerts as the Registered Mobile Number (RMN) was deactivated for five days -- the time period during which the money was moved.
Sources said this was a planned crime. The Gujarat bank account holder also appears to be non-existent, as the address provided in the documents does not exist, on verification. “In both cases, bank officials stated that they were unaware of the money getting transferred, which is alarming,” Chandrappa said. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Girish S told TNIE that this is a case of leakage of login ID and password. “We cannot call this a case of hacking unless a forensic examination is done, as several people are involved in handling these accounts.