On February 11, Harikesh Kumar Yadav, a resident of Ekta Apartment at Siraspur in Delhi, filled an online form to get a new credit card. He, however, ended up losing Rs 21,400 almost instantly.
On Wednesday, with the arrest of three persons, the Delhi Police claimed to have busted a phishing scam, as part of which Yadav had been duped by people posing as bank officials.
The police identified the accused as Jaideep Kumar (31), Ajay (27), and Rakesh Rajaram Jaiswal (33), who were arrested on Tuesday. The alleged brain behind the operation, however, is still at large, they added.
The matter came to light on February 11, when Yadav filed a complaint on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP) portal. “The complainant received a call offering him an ICICI Bank credit card and a subsequent phishing link, which led to unauthorised transactions on his Axis Bank credit card,” DCP (Outer North) Nidhin Valsan said.
A police team tracked the money and the phone numbers, leading to raids being conducted at Rama Vihar, Shiv Vihar and Samshan Ghat from where the three accused were arrested, the police said. “The three men were the three pillars of an elaborate scam, with each running a mini department of sorts. Investigation also revealed that Harikesh was just one among their 500 victims,” an officer said.
According to the police, Jaideep, “the most trained of the lot”, was proficient in a multitude of machine languages – from Java to Python – after taking courses on GitHub. He was also allegedly training to a certified ethical hacker. “He was previously involved in a similar kind of scam and was arrested by the Special Cell/IFSO (Intelligence Fusion & Strategic Operations),” said Valsan.
A graduate, Jaideep would also ensure “legitimate-looking websites” were set up to inspire confidence among the victims, police said. Valsan added, “Jaideep used Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) to access remote systems (to hide the IP of his personal computer) and later purchased hosting platforms to set up fraudulent websites. He acquired a sub-domain (free and no registration required) from DuckDNS and developed a PHP-based panel website for fraudulent activities.”
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Ajay, a Class 9 dropout, used to arrange SIM cards, each for Rs 500, to call customers. “He possesses extensive knowledge of digital fraud, particularly credit card fraud and other financial scams,” Valsan said. Rakesh, a Class 12 dropout, was the salesman of the group, pitching the credit cards to the victims, said police. He was directed by the key conspirator to direct and manage phone calls, they added.
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