Cybercriminal nabbed from Jharkhand, hunt on for aide

CHENNAI: A man from Jharkhand, who cheated people by using phishing message as if it were a genuine message sent by the India Post Payments Bank, was arrested by the cybercrime sleuths. The police team is now searching for his associate involved in the scam.

The arrested man was identified as Akash Mandal (21). The complainant, Thelma Caroline of Purasaiwalkam, lodged an online complaint with the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal helpline stating that she received a message from an unknown mobile number asking her to update the PAN card details through a link. She was warned that if she failed to do so, her bank account would get blocked.

Believing this to be a genuine warning, she clicked the link and followed the instructions – only to lose Rs 25,000 from her IPPB account.

Inquiries revealed that at least 308 complaints were reported in the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal using the same modus operandi in Tamil Nadu in the past 10 months. Of these, 13 complaints were linked to the case in Tamil Nadu, while 26 were linked in other states.

The State Cyber Crime Investigation Centre registered a case in this regard, and a police team led by DSP V Deivendiran along with inspector D John Mariya Joseph went to Giridih district in Jharkhand and arrested Akash Mandal. During interrogation, he confessed to having bought the link along with Mukesh Mandal of Giridih, and used it to cheat the IPPB customers through SMS. Akash’s mobile phone and sim card were seized.