Rs 5 crore fraud lands mumbaikar in usa lock-up

FBI nabs Yogesh Sonar after US employer files fraud complaint against him and two others

FBI nabs Yogesh Sonar after US employer files fraud complaint against him and two others

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has arrested Mumbaikar Yogesh Sonar for stealing data and cheating his employer A&A Marketing, a US-based Internet marketing company, to the tune of Rs 5 crore.
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While Sonar was arrested two weeks ago, his partners in crime, Suraj Nair and Darpana Sanghvi, are on the run.
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Three's company: (Clockwise from left) Yogesh Sonar, Darpana Sanghvi and Suraj Nair have been accused of stealing confidential information from their employer A&A Marketing for personal gain

The three allegedly stole code, software data, strategies, licensed software, websites and confidential company information with which they started their own company and took away A&A's clients.
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Year-long fraud

Vini Narang, vice president, A&A Marketing, USA, filed a theft complaint against Sonar with the Buffalo Grove Police Department in Illinois on June 9 (a copy of which is available with MiD DAY) reporting the fraud committed between May 1, 2008 and June 9, 2009.

When no arrests were made, the firm filed another complaint in a US district court on June 12, against Sonar alias Jack Smith, Nair alias Sam Nair and Sanghvi.
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Said Narang, "Sonar, along with two others and their family members, stole my data, emails, secret records and used them to start their own business and caused us huge monetary losses.
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The case is registered for Rs 5 crore, but I have lost much more, especially goodwill."
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Since fraud is considered a federal crime in the US, the US government too has filed a case against the trio.

A case of love

According to company sources, Sonar and Sanghvi were involved in an affair. Though they both married other people, they still kept in touch.

In fact, their colleagues had recently seen them meeting in different places in the US.

Fraud Detection

A&A uses a technology by which the company can detect fraud if they receive an e-mail on a particular ID. Narang received such an e-mail on June 8.

The IP address of the computer that sent the mail was traced to Sanghvi.

Investigations revealed the trio was doing business under various names such as Skayans Marketing in India, GoNimble Tech Pvt Ltd and Adjective Media and Marketing.