KOCHI: The key suspect behind the cyber crime in which an Alappuzha man lost Rs 2.57 lakh through phishing was traced to North India by the Cyber Crime wing.
According to sources in the Cyber Police, the suspect was traced to an undisclosed location in North India after getting information from the two arrested in the case recently.
"He used spoofing with the Internet Protocol (IP) address and even on the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number of his phone so that he wouldn't be tracked by the police," a source said refusing to give further details.
The event unfolded when Praveen of Alappuzha received an alert on his mobile phone from the State Bank of India about the debit of Rs. 2.57 lakh on August 11, 2018.
The transaction happened without the mandatory One Time Password (OTP) following which he approached the bank and the police.
The Cyber Crime station, Kochi range, received the case months later and found it to be a case of phishing. The victim had searched for the mobile recharge options of Airtel in Google on which he was directed to a phishing site created by the accused.
According to M.J. Abhilash, inspector, Cyber Crime station, Kochi range, the accused had used the search engine optimisation to set the fake page to be first on the list in search results. "He was then directed to the cloned bank payment gateway, where he submitted his internet banking ID, password, and OTP," he said.
"They used a secure OTP application with these details on their phone. The application will replace the need for receiving the OTP for internet banking transactions via SMS and it can be generated using the application. Thus they stole Rs. 2.57 lakh in ten different transactions from his bank account," he said.
