3 HDFC bank staffers among 12 held for bid to withdraw from NRI account

New Delhi, Oct 19 (IANS) Delhi Police on Tuesday said they have arrested 12 people including three HDFC bank employees for attempting to make an unauthorized withdrawal from a very high-value NRI customer of the bank.

The police said the accused hacked through internet banking and attempted to withdraw money using fraudulently obtained cheque book of the NRI customer.

"The accused procured an Indian mobile phone number identical to the USA's mobile number of the account holder registered in the KYC," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Cyber Crime) K.P.S. Malhotra said.

HDFC Bank had filed a complaint with the Cyber Crime Unit of Special Cell alleging that there are many unauthorized internet banking attempts noticed in one NRI bank account. The bank further alleged that all in all 66 attempts were made to access the the account through internet banking.

Based on this complaint, the police constituted a team that was tasked to identify the culprits on the basis of technical footprints and human intelligence.

Raids were conducted at 20 locations across Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh during which 12 people, including three HDFC bank employees, were arrested.

The three accused HDFC bank employees, including a woman, were involved in issuing the cheque book, updating the mobile phone number and removing the debt freeze of the account.

The accused have been identified as R. Jaiswal, resident of Ghaziabad, G. Sharma, resident of Ghaziabad, A. Kumar, resident of Greater Noida, A. Tomar, resident of Hapur, H. Yadav, resident of Ghaziabad, S.L. Singh, resident of Bulandshahar, S. Tanwar, resident of Gurugram, N.K. Jatav, resident of Jhansi and S. Singh, resident of Baghpat in UP.

The accused HDFC employees are D. Chaurasiya from Rai Bareilly, A. Singh from Gonda, and a female employee.

During interrogation, it was revealed that the main mastermind got the information that the said NRI account is dormant and has huge funds in it.

With the help of one female employee of HDFC, they got issued a cheque book of the said account and also got removed the debt freeze of the account.

Thereafter, the cheque book and the mobile phone came in the possession of R. Jaiswal, who distributed leaves of cheque book to his other accomplices for clearance with an understanding of sharing 50 per cent of the total money withdrawn from the account in lieu of giving consent to the bank over phone on behalf of actual account holder.

D. Chaurasiya and A. Singh (both employees of HDFC bank) had attempted to update the phone number linked in the KYC. Other associates had tried to login to the internet banking of the account for the purpose of transfer of money.

DCP Malhotra said that investigation is still in progress to unearth the whole conspiracy.