Cyber crime: Three phishing cases lodged in a day

The city police have registered three phishing cases yesterday where cyber criminals cleaned out Rs 17.5 lakh from bank accounts of three people. While two cases have been registered with the Chatushringi police station, one has been lodged at Yerawada.

In all the three cases, the modus operandi was the same -- the accused accessed the details of the victims' online banking account and transferred hefty sums to their respective accounts. According to the police, all the thefts took place last year. So far the victims were corresponding with their banks about the incidents.

But seeing no respite in sight, they approached the police yesterday. The police have booked the unidentified accused for cheating and hacking. In the first case, the Chatushringi police have booked unknown persons for hacking and stealing Rs 15.21 lakh from the bank account of Minash Amar Tolani (30) from Baner.

The phishing happened between December 18 and 19 last year. Now, the case is being investigated by the Cyber Crime Cell. The same police station is also investigating the case of Digambar Vitthal Gokhale (60), a scientist with the National Chemical Laboratories (NCL) who lives in officers' quarters in Pashan.

Around Rs 2.47 lakh was cleaned out from Gokhale State Bank of India account while he was away to attend a conference in South Korea last October. "He returned after four days only to discover that Rs 2 lakh was transferred to the bank account of one Vishwatma Dubey in Varanasi. We will arrest the accused soon," said Police Inspector (Crime) S B Navle from the Chatushringi Police Station.

The Yerawada Police Station has also booked an unknown person for stealing Rs 56,000 from the account of Sahil Satishkumar Sharma from Phulenagar in Alandi Road. Senior Police Inspector Dipak Sawant said they were tracing the transaction details in coordination with Sharma's bank.

Rs 15 lakh
The amout cleaned out from the account of Minash Amar Tolani (30) from Baner