Rs 182.3cr cyberfraud: Three managers helped open mule accounts in their banks

Rajkot: Driven by the greed for quick money, three executives of two private sector banks allegedly circumvented rules to facilitate the opening of mule accounts that were used to launder nearly Rs 182.37 crores in cyberfrauds. On Friday, the Kutch East Cybercrime police arrested the bankers, including two branch managers of India's leading bank, after their names were revealed during the ongoing investigation into the Rs 182.37 crore racket busted last week.Those arrested were Chandan Pandya (41), Hitesh Kapta (38) and Yasin Sayecha, all tasked by their banks with opening new accounts.
Kutch East Superintendent of Police (SP) Sagar Bagmar said, "These bank executives were in constant touch with the earlier arrested accused, and we found chats between them and other members involved in the nationwide fraud."The executives, investigators claimed, were under pressure to meet targets for opening new accounts. The cybercriminals allegedly exploited this pressure and offered commissions to the officials in exchange for facilitating the opening of current accounts with a lenient approach.Investigators found that several current accounts were opened in the names of fake firms and shell companies. The accused allegedly used identity documents of poor and less-educated villagers to open high-value accounts, obtain GST registrations and rent shops to create an appearance of genuine business activity.The probe further revealed that some of the accounts were frozen following complaints registered through cyber helplines in other states. However, the arrested bank officials allegedly helped the fraudsters unfreeze these accounts by pointing out procedural loopholes, allowing them to reuse the accounts for further cyberfraud.The money routed through these accounts is suspected to be the proceeds of cybercrimes committed in various parts of the country. So far, at least 74 cyberfraud complaints from different states were linked to the 81 accounts identified in the investigation.The police earlier arrested Yash Bhatia (27), Siddharth Soni (34), Sahil Sharma (26) and Alpesh Luhar (40).The probe began with what appeared to be a simple rental fraud complaint, but it soon exposed one of the largest cyber-enabled financial fraud networks in the region.Police said further arrests are likely as the investigation continues.