INDORE: Police on Wednesday claimed to have busted an Indore-based gang of fraudsters involved in phishing the accounts of Axis Bank and IDBI Bank customers across the country.
Talking to TOI, SSP A Sai Manohar said two members of the gang Tauseef, a resident of Azad Nagar and Naved, a resident of Nandlalpura have tricked eight youths into opening fictitious accounts in their names in at least two dozen different banks in the city. “These accounts were utilized to siphon off the money from the account holders of Axis bank and IDBI Bank through phishing or money laundering,” said the SSP.
The money was later withdrawn from the fictitious account through ATM or cheques. Tauseer and Naved were computer and AC mechanics, who opened the accounts in the fictitious names of Abrar, Yaqub, Firoz, Asir, Azhar, Sameer, Imran etc.
The SSP said that the victims of phishing were the account holders from Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. “The banks have been receiving complaints from their account holders in these states about their money being siphoned off out from their accounts without their knowledge,” said SSP.
Following the complaint, the SSP directed the ASP (crime branch) Manoj Rai who investigated into the complaint with the help of the officials Axis Bank and IDBI Bank. It was found that the fictitious account was not only used to siphon off the money from the genuine account holders of the private banks, but also considerable amount of money was deposited in them through laundering. The police have been finding out the exact amount of money siphoned off and the money deposited by way of laundering.
The accused include Naved Kamran son of Abdul Razzak, Tauseef son of Taj Mohammad, Asif son of Jameel Ahmed, Firoz son of Abdul Razzak, Mohammad Arafat son of Shafique Rehman, Gulzar son of Mukhtiyar Ahmed, Bablu alias Abrar son of Iftahkar Khan, and Ajju Bhai.
The accused have been booked under section 419, 420 IPC and 66 IT Act. Further investigations are on.