Cyber scamsters use locals’ accounts Criminals operating from abroad convince locals to allow the use of their bank accounts to transfer money by promising a cut

Cyber scamsters use locals’ accounts

Criminals operating from abroad convince locals to allow the use of their bank accounts to transfer money by promising a cut

Cyber criminals have hit upon a new strategy: getting someone to allow the use of their bank account, and using it to transfer their ill-gotten gains to accounts abroad.
The local who allows the use of his/her bank account either gets a cut of the money made through fraud, or a specific sum agreed upon before the transaction. The flipside: the local is tracked down by the police, even as the main accused operating from abroad evade capture.
The cyber police have been busting rackets that cheat victims online by promising large sums as ‘prize money’. The police call this a Nigerian scam. The criminals, operating from abroad, use the bank accounts to conduct the transactions for the scam.
An officer said that some of the scamsters had agents in the city who scout for people — usually not very well off — and lure them into letting their bank accounts be used. “The beneficiary account holders either get a cut of the money, or are given Rs3,000 – Rs5000 for allowing the use of their accounts.”

Recently, the BKC cyber police investigated a case in which a scammer claiming to be a Scotland-based engineer cheated a Chembur-resident widow of Rs17 lakh after promising to marry her. Investigations led the police to three men, to whose account the victim had been told to transfer the money. By the time the three were arrested, the Rs17 lakh had been transferred to accounts in Nigeria. The three claimed they had no idea about the scam. “The person asked for the use of their bank accounts, saying he did not have one himself and had to receive a sum of money from a relative,” a cyber police official said. The accused promised the three a cut.
“We suspect they knew it was a scam, but were lured into it as they thought they were getting money for nothing,” said an officer from BKC cyber police requesting anonymity.
Those who let their accounts be used do not realise they will be the first link to the accused as the money was transferred to their account.

“Cyber criminals operating from overseas often use the accounts of locals to obfuscate the money trail,” said joint commissioner of police, crime, Himanshu Roy. “Also, the victim would be hesitant to transfer funds to a foreign bank account.”

PAST CASES

February 17: A 22-year-old student from Kandivli receives an email saying she has won Rs5 crore in a lottery, after her email ID was selected by ‘Microsoft’. She is told to deposit Rs7 lakh for a character certificate and ‘other procedures’ to ensure she gets the money. After paying Rs7.08 lakh, she realises she has been cheated, informs the police. They trace the account to which the money was transferred and in August arrest 32year-old Rajkumar Brijlal Thagele who had allowed his account to be used. By then, the money had been transferred from his account.

JULY: A south Mumbaibased cloth merchant is cheated of Rs80 lakh after his accountant replies to an email sent by the ‘bank’, asking for verification of account details. It is found out that the bank hadn’t sent the email and Rs80 lakh was transferred from the complainant’s account to other accounts. The police track down one of the accounts and arrests Kandivli resident Prakash Doshi, who had opened the account. However, the other accused — who drafted the mail with the bank’s fake logo — manage to evade arrest.

Local account holder ends up facing the law alone, say cops

MUMBAI: Cyber criminals using an intermediary local bank account are mostly successful at evading the law. In such cases, the cyber police manage to follow the money trail only up to the locals who let their accounts be used, and arrest them.
A victim of cyber crime usually realises he or she has been cheated only a few weeks or months after the money is transferred, an officer from the cyber crime investigation cell of the Mumbai police said, requesting anonymity.
“By the time we trace the account to which the money has been transferred and arrest the local who opened the account, the scamster operating from abroad would have already transferred the money from the local’s account, withdrawn it and closed his account, leaving behind no trace of his involvement,” said the officer.

Questioning the locals does not yield any leads, as they at most know the person who approached them.
“The locals form the last link in the chain and are not aware about the others involved in the scam, leading to the main accused. They don't even know the money in their account has been transferred abroad,” said the officer.
Well aware that the intermediary account holder will be tracked down, even those employed by the scamster to approach the local do not reveal their identity, so that the local cannot lead the police to the accused.
“Ultimately, it is only the local account holders who end up facing the law, because of greed and despite sensing they are getting involved in a scam. At most, in some cases, we manage to track down the other links in the chain that operate within the country. Tracking down an accused located in some other country is a difficult task,” the officer said.