Cyber crime ki Phoolan Devi

City cops in hot pursuit of IT savvy 27-year-old woman who heads gang of educated criminals specialising in credit card and online fraud

Cyber crime ki Phoolan Devi

City cops in hot pursuit of IT savvy 27-year-old woman who heads gang of educated criminals specialising in credit card and online fraud

The arrest of Manish Desai (23), who, on April 28, unsuccessfully tried to purchase a laptop from Baba Infotech with a duplicate credit card, is leading the Dattawadi police to a gang of IT savvy fraudsters led by a 27-year-old woman based in Mira Road, a suburb on the outskirts of Mumbai.u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0
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Sub-inspector B R Naikawde of Dattawadi police station, the investigating officer in the case, told MiD DAY that the Mumbai police had taken the kingpin's brother into custody for questioning, and expect to arrest her soon.u00a0u00a0
It was Naresh Moriyan, director, Baba Infotech Pvt Ltd, who had apprehended Desai on the day of his arrest. Desai, like many other members of the gang, lives in Mumbai.

"The woman is IT savvy. She graduated from a college in Bandra in Mumbai, and has amassed crores through fraudulent means. She owns three flats, one of which is in Naigaon near Mumbai. Members of her gang, which includes Nigerians, are educated and speak English fluently. She is active in Mumbai, Vashi, Pune, Nashik, Aurangabad, and Ahmednagar. The gang is also active in Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Kerala," Naikawde added.

"The police did not want me to file an FIR as the ICICI Bank had already filed one. The fake PAN card was in the name of Rajendra Behuria born in 1981. I was alert because six months ago, two Nigerians had similarly duped me of two laptops worth Rs 1.5 lakh in our Hadapsar branch," said Moriyan. Sudam Chaure, coordinator, Pune police's cyber cell, told MiD DAY that such cases of organised credit card fraud were on the rise.

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