Eight people have been arrested by Bhayandar Police for committing large-scale online frauds by hacking mobile phones using fake applications, officials said.
"The accused obtained OTPs and sensitive bank details from unsuspecting citizens after infecting their phones through fraudulent links. They then used these details to purchase expensive mobile phones through Flipkart and later sold the phones to other people," said an official release.
Police began investigating the case in September after officers Sanjay Shipane and Ravindra Wagh found Rinkukumar Shriramjilal Bairwa from Rajasthan in possession of 11 high-end mobile phones under suspicious circumstances.
Bairwa had allegedly hacked some people's bank accounts and purchased mobile phones worth Rs 4.77 lakh on Flipkart.
A case was registered against Bairwa after a complaint was filed by InstaKart Services Pvt Ltd.
Investigation later revealed that Bairwa was part of an inter-state gang which hacked phones using phishing links and enabling features such as call and SMS forwarding, UPI PIN grabbing and Gmail access, the release said.
Acting on intelligence, police arrested six persons from Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Navi Mumbai and Bhiwandi, and later caught main accused Hardy alias Prince Kamlesh Sajnani in Chhattisgarh on October 6.
Police also seized 107 high-end mobile phones from their possession.
Further probe is underway, the release said.
(With inputs from PTI)