Kingpin of the gang, 39-year-old Mohammed Mirza Ali alias Sanjay Soni alias Mamu from Maharashtra's Thane district and Ghaziabad-resident Pritam Mishra alias Preet Mishra, were arrested following a complaint by one Vijay Kher that someone had transferred Rs 20 lakh from his account.
Joint Commissioner (EOW) Sandeep Goel said the gang used to procure account details of their victims and get the SIM card of their victims deactivated before transferring the sum to their account through internet banking.
"This was done to prevent the victim from getting any alert on their mobile. Kher in his complaint with the EOW had said that someone had transferred the amount from his account, with YES Bank, through fraudulent on-line transactions during the night of 19-20 October 2012," Goel said.
"The accused had managed to get a duplicate SIM card of Kher issued. Using which, they managed to get the One Time Password, provided by the bank to complete an online transaction. They managed to transfer money through internet banking from his (Kher) account to various bank accounts opened on fake identities," Goel said.
Probe revealed that the gang had duped large numbers of people in Delhi and other cities.
Police managed to arrest them after finding IP address logs and other clues along with discreet enquiries.
Ali used to get account and bank details of their targets from some Nigerians while his associates opened bank accounts with fake identities, the officer said.
During interrogation the accused said they used to get the SIM card, mentioned in the bank account, of their victims blocked from the mobile company and get a duplicate SIM issued.
After activation of duplicate SIM, accused Ali would access the account of the victim on internet using the details already available with them like the user-ID, password of the account, Goel said.
