Mumbai : Keeping a bank account idle for a long time without any check may land you in trouble with cyber fraudsters starting to use them to transfer hawala money. The fraudsters are using software that enables them to hack into an account, which is then used to deposit and transfer a certain amount without the knowledge of the actual account holder.
The racket assumes importance, as it not only can land the actual account holder in trouble but also is becoming a tool to transfer black money without hassles. The transfers, so far have been reported only within the country, however, law enforcement agencies are concerned that it can be used for transfer of amount internationally.
With the black money stashed abroad becoming a big cause of concern, the Central Government has already proposed a bill that makes concealment of wealth overseas punishable with a maximum of 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment. The bill is in Parliament for clearance.
The victims in Mumbai were a diamond trader and a businessman dealing in farsan material. Hawala dealers recently deposited and transferred Rs 11.5 lakh and Rs 2 lakh to unknown persons in Hyderabad and Gandhinagar respectively using accounts of these two businessmen. Both the accounts, which were
in private banks, were lying idle and had deposits of only Rs 5000 each. Police are investigating how the amounts were deposited in these two accounts before they were transferred.
The two learnt about the transactions when they got SMS alerts saying the transfer is successful. Interestingly, the two had never used these two accounts for net banking.
“With the software, the fraudsters can hack into a third person’s account and go through the details. This also enables them to use the account for money transfer,” said Advocate Pankaj Bafna who deals with cyber crime cases. He said the software also helps the fraudsters in deleting the log details that makes it tedious to investigate the fraud.
“The log details in such cases would be available only on the backup servers of the bank and getting details from the same is time-consuming for law enforcement agencies,” said Bafna adding within this time, the criminals easily vanishes with the money.
The account, which receives the money, is also closed after a few transactions. Police sources said that such accounts are used using fictitious details and hence it is not easy to reach the users.
