Hyderabad: The cybercrime police investigating the case of hacking of the AP Mahesh Co-operative Bank servers and stealing Rs 12 crore via online transfers, had a tough time in tracking down and arresting a gang of Nigerian offenders who specialized in cybercrime.
The cyber police team from here had a bitter experience in Delhi as the gang-members scuffled with them when they went there to catch them. Cops however managed to take custody of the suspects and brought the men to the city. Questioning of the accused is on to get more details of hacking of servers of Mahesh Bank and transferring of Rs 12 crore.
Police have taken into custody Lucky, who maintained an account in Mahesh Bank and was making suspicious transactions.
The hackers had deposited money into Lucky’s account. Later, this amount was withdrawn by Lucky and his associates in Delhi. Lucky is a native of Uttar Pradesh and he lives in Delhi.
Investigation officers have questioned some suspects in getting details of the online transactions through their accounts. The hackers had conducted recce online in unlocking the servers using passwords to transfer huge amounts. Police said the offenders took steps by closing red tags inside the servers for not sending alerts to the RBI and the Income Tax department.
Generally, when one deposits huge amounts in the saving accounts, an alert is generated to the RBI and Income Tax departments.
It was also reported that the offenders have used 128 accounts for transferring the huge cash by hacking Mahesh Bank servers. Some of the accounts were “created” by the cyber offenders. The sleuths have obtained details of 128 suspicious account holders and their addresses from the bank.
Police have also intensified the probe in finding Shanawaz, a woman who has an account with Mahesh Bank. It was found that Rs 7 crore was deposited in her account by this gang. She submitted fake documents posing as a resident of Hyderabad while she was from Mumbai, police said.
