Mumbai: Deputy manager of private bank arrested in Rs 42-lakh cyber fraud

Cops suspect a big nexus of individuals involved with banking officials. Representation Pic

In a corporate cyber fraud case, the South Cyber unit of the Mumbai Crime Branch has apprehended a deputy bank manager employed by a private bank. The arrest follows his alleged involvement in siphoning off Rs 42 lakh from a corporate office's account. The arrested individual, identified as Pawanshiv Bhagwan Dadich, 31, hailing from Jodhpur, faces charges including cheating, forgery, breach of trust, and violations under the Information Technology Act.

The complainant, a garment business with a corporate office in Kalbadevi, South Mumbai, maintains its account with a private bank and conducts online transactions. On March 16, the company reported to the cyber police that an unknown individual had illegally transferred Rs 41.83 lakhs from their account using the internet.

During the investigation it was revealed that the accused exploited API's (Application Programming Interface) banking facilities by submitting bogus PAN and Aadhar cards of the complainants' company, altering its user's mobile number and email address, which allowed unauthorised access to the account. API enables third-party applications to access a common set of tools or services. This allows a bank to offer third-party access to its custom services through dedicated APIs.

"As per the banking rules, the API facilities allow easy transfer of money but only a few high-rank banking officials are allowed to do that, without their approval, this wouldn't be possible," explained senior inspector Nandkumar Gopale of South Cyber. The officials further found that the fraudster visited the Jodhpur branch of the bank, submitted the API form, and changed the user's mobile number and email address, thereby gaining complete control over the accounts through the internet and siphoning off R41.83 lakh from the complainant's account.

"It was the manager's responsibility to check the KYC but he failed to do the same, we are verifying others involved in the fraud," said the officer. The officials said that, during a search of Dadich's house, and car, a passbook of the beneficiary's account was found, which he couldn't explain leading to his arrest. He was produced in court and remanded to police custody for further probe.

"We suspect a big nexus involved in this case who are working in connivance with the bank manager. We are also verifying if he is involved in other such cases," an officer of the cyber cell said.