The mule accounts were used to receive funds in cyber frauds being investigated by the Bengaluru police. (File Photo)
A Pune-based software engineer landed in trouble after casually sharing his Aadhaar number for bookings at a pilgrimage centre. His identity had been allegedly misused systematically to open six bank accounts, which were used as mule accounts to receive funds in cyber frauds being investigated by the Bengaluru police. The probe revealed that the fraud was executed in two distinct stages — first, scammers attempted to siphon funds directly from the victim, and when that only partially worked, they proceeded to steal and misuse his identity to facilitate cyber fraud. An (FIR) in the case was registered on Saturday at Hadapsar police station by a 36-year-old software engineer who remotely works for a Bengaluru based software company.
In the first week of November, the complainant’s family decided to visit a well known pilgrimage centre in Maharashtra. When the complainant searched for online platforms for booking of a pooja slot and accommodation arrangements, he came across a link bearing the name of another pilgrimage centre. Investigators believe that this was a fraudulent platform.
When the complainant clicked a phone number listed on the website, he was directed to a WhatsApp chat. When he inquired about the bookings, he was asked to share the photo of his Aadhaar card and was asked to pay Rs 4,100.
After he sent the Aadhaar card photo and made the payment online, a person communicating from the other end who identified himself as Abhishek, contacted the complainant again. “Abhishek” told the complainant the total amount was actually Rs 4,346, with GST included. He asked the complainant to make the payment of Rs 4,346 and said that he would return Rs 4,100. Believing this person to be genuine, the complainant made the payment to the same number. A while later the person told him that he had returned Rs 4,100, but the complainant has not received any amount.
Later, “Abhishek” told the complainant that he had by mistake sent Rs 40,900 to the complainant’s account and asked him to return the excess amount. When the complainant checked his bank account, no such amount had been received. Realising that he had been targeted in a cyber scam, he approached the helpline of his bank and reported the fraud transactions.
The complainant visited the pilgrimage centre as planned with the family, When he was returning to Pune the next day, he received half a dozen emails from the website of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) which issues and manages the Aadhaar identifications. These emails informed him of his Aadhaar identity being used to six bank accounts in six different banking entities, using online account opening facilities.
At this point, the complainant immediately contacted the 1947 UIDAI helpline and 1930 national cyber crime helpline and reported the frauds and identity theft. The complainant then went to an Aadhar facilitation centre where he found out that the cyber fraudsters had changed the cell number linked to his Aadhar card and replaced it with another. They had then misused his identity to open bank accounts. At the facilitation centre the complainant changed the Aadhaar linked cell number to his wife’s number using biometric access and further locked the biometric access.
The complainant then visited one of the banks in which fraudsters had opened an account and found out that it had been opened using the complainant’s Aadhaar identity. He also found that some transactions had been made in that bank account. The complainant then filed reports to each of six banks and requested closure of the fraudulently opened bank accounts. Meanwhile the complainant approached the Hadapsar police station and submitted a complainant application.
The complainant then received a notice from the Bengaluru police seeking his appearance for an investigation into a cyber fraud case registered at North Division Cyber crime police station of Bengaluru police. He found out that the bank accounts which were opened with his stolen identity were used as mule accounts in a cyber fraud case. The complainant replied to the notice by the Bengaluru police.
Meanwhile, based on the complaint application registered at Cyber crime police station, an FIR was registered at Hadapsar police station on Saturday. The investigation has been launched into phone numbers used by suspects and to determine the full extent of the cyber fraud and identity theft.