Cyber Crime
How Murder Investigation Led To Exposing Of FASTag-Based Cyber Fraud
NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police Crime Branch claims to have busted a gang that used FASTag to dupe consumers by activating credit card services. The police stated they arrested three conmen and seized expensive automobiles and other SUVs from the accused’s possession.
The accused conned hundreds of individuals out of Rs 80 lakh in less than a month, according to the police.
How The Scam Was Exposed
The incident came to light while police were investigating a murder investigation. According to senior officers, one of the gang members was living with the murder suspect. Mohd Zahid, 22, was apprehended with a laptop, cellphone, card swipe machine, and SIM cards. When questioned about his belongings, he was unable to respond.
Following his arrest, Zahid informed the police that he is a member of a group that has been defrauding individuals under the guise of credit card activation and other services. He was tasked with managing Pawan Singh’s phoney accounts. He also named his partner, Ravi Mittal, who would create FASTag wallets using the victim’s account information.
What is the FASTag Scam
According to Crime Branch investigators, the gang used FASTag wallets to drain money from the victims’ accounts and then divert it. The individuals pretended to be cops and called customers of various institutions.
The gang approached people who had recently purchased new credit cards. Mittal would create FASTag wallets while the other gang members would steal the victim’s personal account information under the guise of activating credit card services or adjusting card limits, etc. The accused linked the wallets to the bank account using personal information and OTPs, explained Ravindra Singh Yadav, Special Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch).
They would withdraw money from the bank account using the FASTag wallets. Ravi Mittal is accused of creating IDFC First Bank FASTAGS online. Since the FASTag generation process requires only a copy of the RC and an OTP, accused Ravi Mittal has created fresh FASTAGs and then used the connected e-wallet facility supplied by IDFC Bank using FASTAGs. The amount in these FASTAG wallets was obtained by accused persons using credit card details and OTP provided by innocent users. Then, in order to pull the money out of the e-wallet, they partnered with certain petrol pump operators to en-cash the cheated amount using a swipe machine.
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The accused were also utilising a bogus current account to receive the money and subsequently distribute it to various associates.
Police carried out raids and apprehended the kingpin Singh and his colleague Mittal.
The police said that Zahid ran the fake accounts that got the money, and Mittal made the wallets that were used to take money out of swipe machines at gas stations in Haryana and Chandigarh. “Mittal used to get money from these gas stations and give it to each of the people involved,” Yadav said.
During questioning, Zahid said he worked as a travel agent and learned how to make websites and use other online tools. He met Singh, the leader of the gang, and began to help him by giving him fake accounts that he could use for his illegal activities.
Singh worked for a telecom company and an insurance company. While at work, he met someone who stole credit card information. He also started stealing data and asked Zahid and other people he knew to help him run the gang. Mittal worked for telecom companies, too, and that’s how he met Singh.
The police said, “They used FASTags because they said it was easy to put money on them and take it out using bank services.”
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