Phishing scam: Two of gang held in Delhi

New Delhi, August 27

Two members of an alleged email phishing gang were arrested from the national capital and Uttar Pradesh, the Delhi Police said on Sunday.

The accused have been identified as Jabar Pal (22) of Sarai Jullena in Delhi and Rahul Sharma (23), a resident of Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh, they said. In his complaint, Ajay Khandelwal said he had been cheated of Rs 3,64,560 through email phishing.

The complainant alleged he was a client of a Kolkata-based firm, which provides transportation services to his company. They used to communicate through emails for bill payments and transport bookings, a senior police officer said.

Using an email ID which was a replica of the transport company’s email ID but with a different service provider, the accused sent numerous fake emails to Khandelwal regarding payment clearance. The complainant transferred the money in the account provided by the accused, the police said.

The reverse IP address of the fake email was tracked down and it was found to have originated from Nigeria. The accounts to which the alleged amount was transferred were opened on fake identities, they said.

The police analysed the call details and money transaction and reversed the IP address of fake emails. Later, the location of the accused was traced to Bareilly. A raid was conducted which led to the arrest of Jabar Pal, Deputy Commissioner of Police (north) Sagar Singh Kalsi said.

Thereafter, co-accused Sharma was arrested, the police said. Pal lived with his cousin and co-accused Sharma in Delhi. The accused came in contact with Shahid, who handled the technical aspects of the fraud and asked them to manage the fake account and transactions, the police said. Sharma and Pal opened more than 10 bank accounts with fake identities in which Shahid got the cheated amount deposited. The money was then withdrawn and shared among them, the police said.