Nigerians remotely access bank’s keyboard, swindle ₹2.61 cr

CHENNAI: The two Nigerians arrested by the cybercrime sleuths had allegedly gained access remotely to the keyboard usage of the State Cooperative Bank and swindled Rs 2.61 crore.

The accused O Ekene Godwin, (37) and C Augustine (42), were tracked by police when they went to ATMs to withdraw money for daily expenses in Delhi.

The two had come to India two years ago on a business visa posing as representatives of a fake export / import company.

Since August 2022, the duo has been monitoring several cooperative banks across the country by sending phishing emails.

The two had used 'keylogger' softwares to gain access to a keyboard attached to the system. The duo had sent several phishing emails to the state cooperative bank's system. When a staff member clicked the mail, the embedded software was installed on the background in the system to access the system, police noted.

The two had accessed details of a state co-operative bank in Mannady after sending a phishing mail. They had done the similar Modus Operandi to at least ten different banks in the country, police noted. On November 18, before 9am, the accused had transferred Rs 2.6 crore. Noticing the huge withdrawal of money from different accounts, the bank officials lodged a complaint. The Cyber Crime officials took immediate steps and managed to retrieve Rs 1 crore.

During the probe, the police managed to track one IP address Uttam Nagar in Delhi from where the two were nabbed, police noted. But they kept a minimum amount to pay rent, food and other expenses. The two swindled the money and transferred it to at least 32 different bank accounts. Police managed to track some of the accounts. During the probe police learnt that ATM withdrawals were made in the recent days from one of those accounts. The police monitored the ATMs and picked up CCTV footage. That led the investigators to the suspects, police noted.