LAHORE: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)’s Cyber Crime Wing claimed to have arrested a man for withdrawing Rs 2 million from various banks on a stolen computerised national identity card (CNIC) of a rickshaw driver.
The FIA officials said Imtiaz Ahmed, a rickshaw driver and resident of Mozang, complained FIA that the officials of various banks were contacting him for the return of Rs 2 million.
Cyber Crime Wing Assistant Director Ziaul Islam said during investigation they had come to know that Nasir Din, a resident of Faisalabad, had stolen Imtiaz’s CNIC. Islam said the accused had used fake signatures of Imtiaz to get the loan.
He said they were tipped off about Nasir’s residence in Faisalabad. He said they raided the place and arrested Nasir. He said Nasir had confessed to the crime.
Showing posts with label Fraud. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fraud. Show all posts
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Two held for making fake identity cards, licenses - TOI - 22 Jun 2008
CHENNAI: The arrest of two men involved in a forgery racket and their demonstration before police as to how a fake driving license can be produced within a matter of few minutes has once again brought to fore how ill-equipped authorities are in their fight against forgery.
R Ramesh (36), a computer science diploma holder and his friend S Babu (28), on Saturday, stunned the Nungambakkam police by issuing a fake driving license to a policeman. "He collected my photograph, scanned it and created a driving license within a few minutes," a policeman attached to the Nungambakkam police station told the Times of India.
The two men were arrested on Friday for forging driving licences, PAN cards and voters' identity cards and issuing them to people applying for passports and bank loans. Sri Lankan Tamils, who could not use their original passports to go to the UK, Europe and Canada, used the services of the duo to obtain Indian passports.
Ramesh and Babu have been involved in this illegal business for more than six months and were operating out of Nesapakkam in K K Nagar.
"They had the driving license format, the signatures and seals of the authorities stored in their computer.
Their customers had to just provide their photographs. The duo then would scan the photograph, fix it on the slot and take a colour printout. They also had the formats of election ID cards, driving licenses and PAN cards with them," K N Murali, assistant commissioner of police, Nungambakkam, said.
With forgery of documents like passports and other identification cards being done with ease by criminals using precision technology, it is high time the authorities resorted to harnessing biometric technology in surveillance systems.
Incidentally, biometrics is an access-control technology that analyses fingerprints, facial features or other physical characteristics of human beings. Computers which work on this technology reduces an image to a template of "minutia points'' — notable features such as a loop in a fingerprint.
Though six branches of biometrics — fingerprints, hand geometry, iris and retina scanners, voice recognition systems, and facial recognition systems — are already in application in some of the states, Tamil Nadu is nowhere near introducing the system.
"Though we are considering its feasibility, there are no serious plans to introduce it in the near future. Technology or resources is not the problem. It's just that we have to take the decision," said CP Singh, transport commissioner.
With no biometric computers to aid police surveillance, it's been a field day for criminals such as Ramesh and Babu. "They had a network with brokers at Shastri Bhavan, where the passport office is located. The duo used to collect Rs 5,000 for an ID card, if the applicant wanted to apply for a passport, but charged loan applicants only Rs 1,000," an official said.
The police got a tip-off about the racket from Nanthakumaran, a native of Vavuniya in Sri Lanka, who was arrested while attempting to apply for a passport in Chennai recently. Nanthakumaran had come to India using a Sri Lankan passport and tried to get an Indian passport. He collected a fake election ID from the duo. However, police had no clue about the gang when Nanthakumaran was arrested. When the Sri Lankan had come to the
Nungambakkam police station to sign as per the bail condition, he was questioned again, when he revealed about Ramesh and Babu.
History of the biometric system
The use of biometric technology, which utitilises body characteristics to identify a person, goes back to the ancient civilisations of Egypt and China. However, modern-day biometrics has evolved thanks to the contribution of several minds.
Joao De Barros, a European explorer is credited with recording the first known system of fingerprinting in the 14th century AD. Alphonse Bertillon, a policeman from Paris, studied body mechanics in an effort to identify criminals. In recent years, John Daugman, a physicist, has done pioneering work in developing the bio metric iris recognition system. Owing to its accuracy, biometric systems are being used to help nab terrorists.
Pakistan recently installed biometric systems at its border to keep a check on cross-border militancy from Afghanistan.
When K Vijaykumar was Chennai city police commissioner five years ago, the city police had worked on a project to link their database of criminals with each and every patrol unit in the city. This project was then headed by joint commissioner MK Jha.
With the aid of biometric computers, patrol units, upon spotting a suspect on the road, could scan and take in the person's details and send it to the commissioner's office. Within minutes, the suspect's data could be cross-checked with the database. The project has, however, been shelved owing to the prohibitive cost involved.
However, a senior official said if government takes a policy decision, it could be introduced pretty fast. "Much of the ground work has already been completed," he said.
R Ramesh (36), a computer science diploma holder and his friend S Babu (28), on Saturday, stunned the Nungambakkam police by issuing a fake driving license to a policeman. "He collected my photograph, scanned it and created a driving license within a few minutes," a policeman attached to the Nungambakkam police station told the Times of India.
The two men were arrested on Friday for forging driving licences, PAN cards and voters' identity cards and issuing them to people applying for passports and bank loans. Sri Lankan Tamils, who could not use their original passports to go to the UK, Europe and Canada, used the services of the duo to obtain Indian passports.
Ramesh and Babu have been involved in this illegal business for more than six months and were operating out of Nesapakkam in K K Nagar.
"They had the driving license format, the signatures and seals of the authorities stored in their computer.
Their customers had to just provide their photographs. The duo then would scan the photograph, fix it on the slot and take a colour printout. They also had the formats of election ID cards, driving licenses and PAN cards with them," K N Murali, assistant commissioner of police, Nungambakkam, said.
With forgery of documents like passports and other identification cards being done with ease by criminals using precision technology, it is high time the authorities resorted to harnessing biometric technology in surveillance systems.
Incidentally, biometrics is an access-control technology that analyses fingerprints, facial features or other physical characteristics of human beings. Computers which work on this technology reduces an image to a template of "minutia points'' — notable features such as a loop in a fingerprint.
Though six branches of biometrics — fingerprints, hand geometry, iris and retina scanners, voice recognition systems, and facial recognition systems — are already in application in some of the states, Tamil Nadu is nowhere near introducing the system.
"Though we are considering its feasibility, there are no serious plans to introduce it in the near future. Technology or resources is not the problem. It's just that we have to take the decision," said CP Singh, transport commissioner.
With no biometric computers to aid police surveillance, it's been a field day for criminals such as Ramesh and Babu. "They had a network with brokers at Shastri Bhavan, where the passport office is located. The duo used to collect Rs 5,000 for an ID card, if the applicant wanted to apply for a passport, but charged loan applicants only Rs 1,000," an official said.
The police got a tip-off about the racket from Nanthakumaran, a native of Vavuniya in Sri Lanka, who was arrested while attempting to apply for a passport in Chennai recently. Nanthakumaran had come to India using a Sri Lankan passport and tried to get an Indian passport. He collected a fake election ID from the duo. However, police had no clue about the gang when Nanthakumaran was arrested. When the Sri Lankan had come to the
Nungambakkam police station to sign as per the bail condition, he was questioned again, when he revealed about Ramesh and Babu.
History of the biometric system
The use of biometric technology, which utitilises body characteristics to identify a person, goes back to the ancient civilisations of Egypt and China. However, modern-day biometrics has evolved thanks to the contribution of several minds.
Joao De Barros, a European explorer is credited with recording the first known system of fingerprinting in the 14th century AD. Alphonse Bertillon, a policeman from Paris, studied body mechanics in an effort to identify criminals. In recent years, John Daugman, a physicist, has done pioneering work in developing the bio metric iris recognition system. Owing to its accuracy, biometric systems are being used to help nab terrorists.
Pakistan recently installed biometric systems at its border to keep a check on cross-border militancy from Afghanistan.
When K Vijaykumar was Chennai city police commissioner five years ago, the city police had worked on a project to link their database of criminals with each and every patrol unit in the city. This project was then headed by joint commissioner MK Jha.
With the aid of biometric computers, patrol units, upon spotting a suspect on the road, could scan and take in the person's details and send it to the commissioner's office. Within minutes, the suspect's data could be cross-checked with the database. The project has, however, been shelved owing to the prohibitive cost involved.
However, a senior official said if government takes a policy decision, it could be introduced pretty fast. "Much of the ground work has already been completed," he said.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Now, students turn to hacking at night for money - itexaminer.com
MUMBAI: Akshay Raval, 20, is burning the midnight oil while his hostel roommates are fast asleep at 2 am. A computer engineering student from Gujarat, now in Pune, Raval is in touch with various such students from across the country.
However, on the virtual world he becomes prime_hacky089 when he logs into hackers' communities and shares information such as latest codes, websites for safe payment and tricks that can disrupt a website's function. Ahmedabad: It is the perpetual hunt for a high and this time it is making money on the sly in the world of cyber crime.
Youths with amateur knowledge of the computer world are increasingly being mesmerised by the word ‘hacker’. It places them in a league apart from the 9-to-5 techies who get fat pay-packets for encoding programs for multinationals. Much like the league of Ajay and the three other youths who were arrested by the city crime branch for cyber crime.
Talking to Ajay has revealed that these youngsters lead an abnormal life - they sleep during the day, chat with the world at night and ofcourse, make money!
And, making easy money is their passion. A habit that has helped them change their social life, made them happening and cool and armed with the right gadgets.
Sunny Vaghela, an ethical hacker from Ahmedabad told TOI that when he pursued his dream, he also faced an ethical dilemma as the line between legal and illegal is very thin. “At times, you are at the other side of law but you know that you are doing it for good,” he says.
Vaghela says that there are hundreds of cyber communities that one can find with various keywords. “There are many famous cases in the USA where major multinational companies’ sites were hacked into, including a major on-line shopping site. As the servers of these hackers were outside the country, they could not be arrested,” he said.
The communities which are operated from central Asia have a database of thousands of financial services subscribers — credit cards, on-line payment gateways and fund transfers. Most of the time the victims are people who do not take adequate precautions while transacting on-line.
“I came across various websites where one can access huge database of private institutions. Students from cities such as Ahmedabad, Pune, Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai join for fun and the high of doing something different.
However, most of the times the bigger hackers do not pass on everything to the greenhorns. Thus, they get restricted to some funny internet tricks and changing password and social networking hacking. But when it gets serious, it can cause economic and social problems,” says Vaghela.
Crime branch officials investigating the on-line shopping case told TOI that Shahid Khan, the youth from Ahmedabad came in contact with Ajay from Mumbai through a common friend and started exchanging information about hacking communities as they were interested in the common subject of hacking. Khan is a computer expert whose computer contained a number of “objectionable” links to finance gateways.
Indian teenagers charged with hacking - Phishers have absconded
By Jayant Mishra @ 16 June 2008 09:22 :: :: 0 Comments :: Category - Unusual
The Indian police have detained four teenagers in custody for making illegal online purchases. Three boys involved in the alleged conspiracy are from Ahmedabad , and a 16 years old minor with the pseudonym "Varun", alleged to be the mastermind behind Ebay hacking is from Mumbai.
The matter came to light when the site’s Mumbai office received complaints about heavy online buying being made from Ahmedabad. On June 11, Krishna Mohan, an Ebay India official, visited the Cyber Cell of Ahmedabad and lodged a complaint. After probing and investigating the matter, the Cyber Cell nabbed Varun from Mumbai, Shahid Khan, Wahid Khan and Hardi, the trio from Ahmedabad for running an illegal online purchase modus operandi. The police have recovered a database of 15,000 credit card numbers along with CCV details from Hardi’s laptop.
Sunny Vaghela, the ethical hacker who helped the crime branch in outsmarting the teenage hacker spoke to the IT Examiner. Sunny said: “the mastermind in the modus operandi was 16 years old, Varun. He had data base of US citizens and their credit card number along with CCV details, which he would pass on to Hardi sitting in Ahmedabad. Hardi would make fake IDs to make online purchases on Ebay and the products were delivered to Shahid and Wahid’s address”.
Hardi had convinced Shahid and Wahid, saying they were phishing on US clients and so there was no chance they would get traced. That’s why Shahid and Wahid fearlessly accepted on receiving the products at their address, said Sunny.
How did they get the Credit card number of US citizens?
Varun’s proficiency in hacking high-security and government websites let him into a hacking community, which gave him access to a huge database of credit card Customer Verification Value (CVV) numbers of prominent banks across the globe. A hacker, aged 19 years, operating form Chennai. is alleged to be the provider of the data base to Varun. He had spread Trojans across online purchase websites, which enabled him to get a track of all the data, which customers would type in. The involvement of another hacker from Hyderabad is also confirmed. But these two hackers have absconded.
Background: Of the master mind.
Varun is 16 and studies in Class X at St Ann's school, Mulund, Mumbai. His tools include a laptop, a communicator and a cellphone. He got in touch with fraudsters during gaming and worked 15 hours a day, trying to figure out how hacking worked. His illegal passion, took over him fast and he mastered in fooling the cyber police by using proxy servers for illegal transactions. He has contacts with US and Vietnam hackers, whom he calls his mentors. He bought goods worth Rs 90,000 in two months from Ebay India.
Apart from illegal online buys, Sunny said, this young group was also a part timeauction business. Itune is available only in selected countries, but the team would forge Itune certificates, take the encryption code and sell it to customers residing in countries, like Germany and Sweden where Itunes is unavailable. This business earned them around Rs90,000-100,000 thousand.
In this case, which appears to be a replica of a Hollywood film, all the perpetrators are aged under 20.
However, on the virtual world he becomes prime_hacky089 when he logs into hackers' communities and shares information such as latest codes, websites for safe payment and tricks that can disrupt a website's function. Ahmedabad: It is the perpetual hunt for a high and this time it is making money on the sly in the world of cyber crime.
Youths with amateur knowledge of the computer world are increasingly being mesmerised by the word ‘hacker’. It places them in a league apart from the 9-to-5 techies who get fat pay-packets for encoding programs for multinationals. Much like the league of Ajay and the three other youths who were arrested by the city crime branch for cyber crime.
Talking to Ajay has revealed that these youngsters lead an abnormal life - they sleep during the day, chat with the world at night and ofcourse, make money!
And, making easy money is their passion. A habit that has helped them change their social life, made them happening and cool and armed with the right gadgets.
Sunny Vaghela, an ethical hacker from Ahmedabad told TOI that when he pursued his dream, he also faced an ethical dilemma as the line between legal and illegal is very thin. “At times, you are at the other side of law but you know that you are doing it for good,” he says.
Vaghela says that there are hundreds of cyber communities that one can find with various keywords. “There are many famous cases in the USA where major multinational companies’ sites were hacked into, including a major on-line shopping site. As the servers of these hackers were outside the country, they could not be arrested,” he said.
The communities which are operated from central Asia have a database of thousands of financial services subscribers — credit cards, on-line payment gateways and fund transfers. Most of the time the victims are people who do not take adequate precautions while transacting on-line.
“I came across various websites where one can access huge database of private institutions. Students from cities such as Ahmedabad, Pune, Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai join for fun and the high of doing something different.
However, most of the times the bigger hackers do not pass on everything to the greenhorns. Thus, they get restricted to some funny internet tricks and changing password and social networking hacking. But when it gets serious, it can cause economic and social problems,” says Vaghela.
Crime branch officials investigating the on-line shopping case told TOI that Shahid Khan, the youth from Ahmedabad came in contact with Ajay from Mumbai through a common friend and started exchanging information about hacking communities as they were interested in the common subject of hacking. Khan is a computer expert whose computer contained a number of “objectionable” links to finance gateways.
Indian teenagers charged with hacking - Phishers have absconded
By Jayant Mishra @ 16 June 2008 09:22 :: :: 0 Comments :: Category - Unusual
The Indian police have detained four teenagers in custody for making illegal online purchases. Three boys involved in the alleged conspiracy are from Ahmedabad , and a 16 years old minor with the pseudonym "Varun", alleged to be the mastermind behind Ebay hacking is from Mumbai.
The matter came to light when the site’s Mumbai office received complaints about heavy online buying being made from Ahmedabad. On June 11, Krishna Mohan, an Ebay India official, visited the Cyber Cell of Ahmedabad and lodged a complaint. After probing and investigating the matter, the Cyber Cell nabbed Varun from Mumbai, Shahid Khan, Wahid Khan and Hardi, the trio from Ahmedabad for running an illegal online purchase modus operandi. The police have recovered a database of 15,000 credit card numbers along with CCV details from Hardi’s laptop.
Sunny Vaghela, the ethical hacker who helped the crime branch in outsmarting the teenage hacker spoke to the IT Examiner. Sunny said: “the mastermind in the modus operandi was 16 years old, Varun. He had data base of US citizens and their credit card number along with CCV details, which he would pass on to Hardi sitting in Ahmedabad. Hardi would make fake IDs to make online purchases on Ebay and the products were delivered to Shahid and Wahid’s address”.
Hardi had convinced Shahid and Wahid, saying they were phishing on US clients and so there was no chance they would get traced. That’s why Shahid and Wahid fearlessly accepted on receiving the products at their address, said Sunny.
How did they get the Credit card number of US citizens?
Varun’s proficiency in hacking high-security and government websites let him into a hacking community, which gave him access to a huge database of credit card Customer Verification Value (CVV) numbers of prominent banks across the globe. A hacker, aged 19 years, operating form Chennai. is alleged to be the provider of the data base to Varun. He had spread Trojans across online purchase websites, which enabled him to get a track of all the data, which customers would type in. The involvement of another hacker from Hyderabad is also confirmed. But these two hackers have absconded.
Background: Of the master mind.
Varun is 16 and studies in Class X at St Ann's school, Mulund, Mumbai. His tools include a laptop, a communicator and a cellphone. He got in touch with fraudsters during gaming and worked 15 hours a day, trying to figure out how hacking worked. His illegal passion, took over him fast and he mastered in fooling the cyber police by using proxy servers for illegal transactions. He has contacts with US and Vietnam hackers, whom he calls his mentors. He bought goods worth Rs 90,000 in two months from Ebay India.
Apart from illegal online buys, Sunny said, this young group was also a part timeauction business. Itune is available only in selected countries, but the team would forge Itune certificates, take the encryption code and sell it to customers residing in countries, like Germany and Sweden where Itunes is unavailable. This business earned them around Rs90,000-100,000 thousand.
In this case, which appears to be a replica of a Hollywood film, all the perpetrators are aged under 20.
Student' held for job fraud - Times of India - 22 Jun 2008
GURGAON: A three-member job racket gang, operating in Delhi and Bangalore, was busted on Friday with the arrest of a 22-year-old youth, who claimed to be a final-year MBA student of Delhi University. The accused, Vidyut K Panda, landed in Gurgaon police net after one of his victims, Amit Garg, lodged an FIR alleging that the former cheated him of Rs 2.9 lakh promising to get him a job in a reputed IT company in Bangalore. Panda had allegedly escorted Garg to Bangalore for a job "interview" over the telephone.
Panda has reportedly told the Gurgaon police that the gang included an HR manager of a major IT company in Bangalore. Investigators said that Amit, a resident of Sector-31 in Gurgaon, had uploaded his resume on a major job search portal. "His resume was accessed by Panda and he promised him to get a job and started striking a deal with him," said a senior police officer.
After winning his trust, Panda accompanied Garg to Bangalore in May and stayed there for a week. "All the expenses, including the stay at hotel, were borne by Amit. There he faced a telephonic interview with one Sohail Wani, who claimed himself to be the HR manager of an IT company at Bangalore. Later Amit was given an offer letter also but by then Panda had convinced him to pay Rs 2.9 lakh," said a senior police official.
But later, ACP (DLF) Sumit Kuhar said, the victim found the offer letter to be fake and approached the police. "Panda has claimed that Wani is the leader of the gang and they are assisted by one Bangalore-based Rahul Mallik. Now, we have to establish the credentials of Wani and Mallik. We will take the accused to Bangalore," the ACP said.
According to the police, Panda from Ganjam district in Orissa was staying in a rented accommodation in Ashram in south Delhi. He has reportedly told the cops that he was also running a career consultancy firm in the Capital.
"He has claimed that he is a student of Faculty of Management Studies (FMS) but we are cross checking it. " Kuhar said. But, FMS dean Prof J K Mitra denied that Panda was on the college rolls. "I don't recall anyone by that name studying in FMS even in past 10 years," he added.
Meanwhile, Kuhar said the investigation may throw light on the nexus between HR managers of major companies and fraudulent job consultancy firms. "We have also learnt a similar case was registered by Delhi police recently," he said.
Panda has reportedly told the Gurgaon police that the gang included an HR manager of a major IT company in Bangalore. Investigators said that Amit, a resident of Sector-31 in Gurgaon, had uploaded his resume on a major job search portal. "His resume was accessed by Panda and he promised him to get a job and started striking a deal with him," said a senior police officer.
After winning his trust, Panda accompanied Garg to Bangalore in May and stayed there for a week. "All the expenses, including the stay at hotel, were borne by Amit. There he faced a telephonic interview with one Sohail Wani, who claimed himself to be the HR manager of an IT company at Bangalore. Later Amit was given an offer letter also but by then Panda had convinced him to pay Rs 2.9 lakh," said a senior police official.
But later, ACP (DLF) Sumit Kuhar said, the victim found the offer letter to be fake and approached the police. "Panda has claimed that Wani is the leader of the gang and they are assisted by one Bangalore-based Rahul Mallik. Now, we have to establish the credentials of Wani and Mallik. We will take the accused to Bangalore," the ACP said.
According to the police, Panda from Ganjam district in Orissa was staying in a rented accommodation in Ashram in south Delhi. He has reportedly told the cops that he was also running a career consultancy firm in the Capital.
"He has claimed that he is a student of Faculty of Management Studies (FMS) but we are cross checking it. " Kuhar said. But, FMS dean Prof J K Mitra denied that Panda was on the college rolls. "I don't recall anyone by that name studying in FMS even in past 10 years," he added.
Meanwhile, Kuhar said the investigation may throw light on the nexus between HR managers of major companies and fraudulent job consultancy firms. "We have also learnt a similar case was registered by Delhi police recently," he said.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Pyramid scheme fraud suspects detained in Moscow - 09 Jun 2008
MOSCOW, June 9 (RIA Novosti) - Two men were arrested in Moscow on Monday on charges of setting up a pyramid scheme that defrauded around 250,000 people of 18 billion rubles ($765 million), the Interior Ministry said.
"Two organizers of the criminal group have been detained - Sokolov and Dzhasybaeva, who operated under the firms names Region-Center, Garant Invest, and Garant Kredit. They have been brought to Tatarstan [in the Volga area] for investigation proceedings," a ministry spokesman said.
The company operated in 43 regions of Russia, promising up to 90% returns on what they claimed were investments in the housing markets of the Moscow Region and Montenegro.
The suspects traveled throughout the country giving seminars, and distributing literature containing dubious financial information and optimistic forecasts.
The spokesman said over 300 criminal cases have been launched into the scheme.
Numerous pyramid schemes sprung up in Russia during the 1990s, targeting investors who had grown up in the Soviet Union and had little exposure to Western-style mass marketing and almost no understanding of finance.
The most famous example was the MMM scheme, which bilked investors out of around $1.5 billion, depriving more than two million Russians of their life savings. Sergei Mavrodi, who founded the scheme along with his wife and brother, was released in May last year after serving a four-and-a-half-year sentence.
"Two organizers of the criminal group have been detained - Sokolov and Dzhasybaeva, who operated under the firms names Region-Center, Garant Invest, and Garant Kredit. They have been brought to Tatarstan [in the Volga area] for investigation proceedings," a ministry spokesman said.
The company operated in 43 regions of Russia, promising up to 90% returns on what they claimed were investments in the housing markets of the Moscow Region and Montenegro.
The suspects traveled throughout the country giving seminars, and distributing literature containing dubious financial information and optimistic forecasts.
The spokesman said over 300 criminal cases have been launched into the scheme.
Numerous pyramid schemes sprung up in Russia during the 1990s, targeting investors who had grown up in the Soviet Union and had little exposure to Western-style mass marketing and almost no understanding of finance.
The most famous example was the MMM scheme, which bilked investors out of around $1.5 billion, depriving more than two million Russians of their life savings. Sergei Mavrodi, who founded the scheme along with his wife and brother, was released in May last year after serving a four-and-a-half-year sentence.
Three held for Rs.20 mn post office savings fraud - NewKerela.com - 10 Jun 2008
Aligarh, June 10: Three people were arrested in Uttar Pradesh's Aligarh district for withdrawing about Rs.20 million from post offices through fraudulent means, said a police official Tuesday
"All the three arrested are employees of a post-office here and (they) used to withdraw money by using fake savings certificates," Aligarh Superintendent of Police Aseem Arun told IANS.The employees had managed to procure some blank saving certificates a few years ago. By using the Civil Lines' Post-Office seal, where they were deployed, they filled the saving certificates with fake names to whom the certificates were issued and withdrew the money after maturity, the police said.One of the three employees, Shyam Babu, was arrested earlier also for his involvement in a recruitment scam of postal department. Further investigations were on to trace other members of the gang of cheats, the police added.
Cybercrime syndicate swindles govt out of R199m - mg.co.za - 10 Jun 2008
Durban, South Africa
The government has identified at least 27 cases where a syndicate has swindled more than R199-million from government departments in four provinces over the past three years -- using cyber-spyware.This was revealed by KwaZulu-Natal minister for finance and economic development Zweli Mkhize in Durban on Tuesday.
He said the commercial crime unit has made 32 arrests for 86 counts of fraud in Durban and Pietermaritzburg but the syndicate is still operating.Some of the alleged perpetrators have appeared in court and their assets have been seized. Several state employees have also been dismissed.Motlalepula Motaung, head of internal audit services, said the syndicate has been using advanced spyware to commit the cybercrimes, which have been identified in four provinces: KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and the Eastern Cape.She said the crime was first identified in 2005.
In the 2005/06 financial year, eight fraud cases were opened, and in 2007/08 another 18 cases were reported.The syndicate has defrauded government departments -- including the transport, education, health, housing and agriculture departments -- of more than R199-million.
Motaung explained that the syndicate has been identifying corrupt officials at government departments and would also approach suppliers that the department did business with."Officials and suppliers would then be given spy-work -- they would be asked to connect a spy-plug on to a computer and download any information they want," she explained.Motaung said the syndicate would then be able to access any information without needing passwords and would use it to defraud the government of money.She said the corrupt official and supplier would get a portion of the money for their criminal work.The spyware can download information that is nearly a year old, as well as information that has been typed out, but not saved.
The device is as small as a memory stick and is connected to the back of a PC.Mkhize said it was extremely easy for crooked officials to use the spyware."Just by leaving your computer running and going out for a smoke means it could be accessed by a corrupt official," he said.He added that he wants civil servants to be aware of this new type of crime.In this regard, the KwaZulu-Natal treasury has launched a new project called Unembeza 2008 to develop and implement preventative measures to secure computer systems.Answering questions from reporters, Motaung said the syndicate has also been targeting banks, but she could not provide any immediate details.
Asked why it has taken the government three years to come up with an operation to combat this crime, Motaung said initially the aim was to investigate the crime and find out more about it -- "but now the objective is to find a solution".She was unable to say why the government has revealed this information so late.Mkhize, meanwhile, said the operation is in line with the government's committment to eradicating corruption and ensuring good governance. -- Sapa
The government has identified at least 27 cases where a syndicate has swindled more than R199-million from government departments in four provinces over the past three years -- using cyber-spyware.This was revealed by KwaZulu-Natal minister for finance and economic development Zweli Mkhize in Durban on Tuesday.
He said the commercial crime unit has made 32 arrests for 86 counts of fraud in Durban and Pietermaritzburg but the syndicate is still operating.Some of the alleged perpetrators have appeared in court and their assets have been seized. Several state employees have also been dismissed.Motlalepula Motaung, head of internal audit services, said the syndicate has been using advanced spyware to commit the cybercrimes, which have been identified in four provinces: KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and the Eastern Cape.She said the crime was first identified in 2005.
In the 2005/06 financial year, eight fraud cases were opened, and in 2007/08 another 18 cases were reported.The syndicate has defrauded government departments -- including the transport, education, health, housing and agriculture departments -- of more than R199-million.
Motaung explained that the syndicate has been identifying corrupt officials at government departments and would also approach suppliers that the department did business with."Officials and suppliers would then be given spy-work -- they would be asked to connect a spy-plug on to a computer and download any information they want," she explained.Motaung said the syndicate would then be able to access any information without needing passwords and would use it to defraud the government of money.She said the corrupt official and supplier would get a portion of the money for their criminal work.The spyware can download information that is nearly a year old, as well as information that has been typed out, but not saved.
The device is as small as a memory stick and is connected to the back of a PC.Mkhize said it was extremely easy for crooked officials to use the spyware."Just by leaving your computer running and going out for a smoke means it could be accessed by a corrupt official," he said.He added that he wants civil servants to be aware of this new type of crime.In this regard, the KwaZulu-Natal treasury has launched a new project called Unembeza 2008 to develop and implement preventative measures to secure computer systems.Answering questions from reporters, Motaung said the syndicate has also been targeting banks, but she could not provide any immediate details.
Asked why it has taken the government three years to come up with an operation to combat this crime, Motaung said initially the aim was to investigate the crime and find out more about it -- "but now the objective is to find a solution".She was unable to say why the government has revealed this information so late.Mkhize, meanwhile, said the operation is in line with the government's committment to eradicating corruption and ensuring good governance. -- Sapa
Friday, May 30, 2008
Man promises fake bank loans, held - newindiapress.com - 30 May 2008
CHENNAI: City police arrested Victor Jeyakumar (35), of Adyar for allegedly cheating people of Rs 6 lakh after promising them loans from private banks.
According to the police, Victor Jeyakumar, who ran Countrywide Enterprises, placed advertisements in newspapers promising housing and personal loans for interested people.
Buelah and Chandrika of Red Hills and David Chandrasekar of Kelambakkam, who approached him, had to submit several documents and fish out money for application, processing and registration.
In a few days they were shown fake documents claiming that their loan had been approved and were asked to pay a token advance.Victor collected Rs 2.40 lakh from Buelah, Rs 3 lakh from Chandrika and Rs 16,000 from David Chandrasekar as advance payment and asked them to meet him after a few days.
When they approached him again, Victor beat around the bush, citing problems in their documents as the reason for the delay. But six months down the line the frustrated trio lodged a complaint with the City Police Commissioner.Acting on their complaints, a team leaded by Assistant Commissioner Sridhar and Inspector Ashokan called in Victor for interrogation.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Scams Exploiting Use of Cell Phone Remote Services - dongA.com - 28 May 2008
"Your personal information has been released. Failure to subscribe to the X-rated Internet site I’ve mentioned and pay the fee immediately will result in blockage of your cell phone.”
A 42-year-old urban worker, identified only as Hwang, got this message from an unidentified person this month. He considered it a nuisance and hung up, but then his cell phone could not connect to its wireless network.
Feeling confused, Hwang felt he had no choice but to join the site and pay the subscription fee of 80,000 won.
After reporting the case to the Korea Information Security Agency, the victim found out con artists employed a new type of voice phishing in which they illegally exploited remote control services and deceived handset users.
Remote control services are designed to help subscribers register, change, and cancel services via a phone call to service providers. Most users use the last four digits of their cell phone numbers as passwords instead of creating new numbers. The new phishing scam targets handset users who do not change their passwords.
Since Hwang kept the same password when he subscribed to the service, the swindler was able to block his cell phone calls.
The security agency said, “A few similar cases have been reported, but we’re worried that more people will be conned by the new voice phishing as many mobile phone users have subscribed to remote control service.”
More than 870,000 people subscribe to the remote control service of SK Telecom, the nation’s largest wireless service provider. In addition, 5,000 subscribers of LG Telecom and 1,000 of KTF use remote control services every month.
LG helps subscribers of remote control services with call blocking and forwarding. KTF offers voice mail and call rejection while SK provides call waiting and forwarding.
Wireless carriers said that since they provide many services, they generally use the last four digits of mobile phone numbers as passwords to help subscribers better remember the numbers.
The security agency said, “Subscribers can significantly protect themselves from swindlers if they just change their passwords in advance. If handset users get similar phone calls, they should unlock cell phones at customer service centers and sellers of wireless service and report them to the agency
Friday, May 23, 2008
Three arrested for fraud - Expressindia.com - 23 May 2008
Ludhiana, May 22 Gang bought vehicles from finance companies, sold them further
Three members of a gang involved in procuring vehicles from finance companies on fake documents and selling them further were arrested by the Ludhiana police in Partap Singh Wala village today.
The arrested have been identified as Kamal Preet Singh alias Ashu of Haibowal, Narinder Kumar of Shimlapuri and Surjit Singh, also a resident of Haibowal. Some more members of the gang are still at large, said police.
Haibowal police received a tip-off about the gang taking vehicles to Uttar Pradesh for sale. Three tractors, a truck and a motorcycle were impounded in the raid.
Explaining the modus operandi of the gang, Superintendent of Police (City I) Ashish Chaudhary, said: “The arrested bought vehicles through finance companies. They just paid the minimum down payment for the vehicle and sold it further without clearing the remaining installments.”
During interrogation, the accused confessed to selling around ten financed vehicles in UP on cheap rates, said SP Chaudhary.
The police suspect that some employees of the finance companies may also be hand-in-glove with the gang. SP Chaudhary said the role of the finance company employees concerned in the transactions was also under investigation.
Three members of a gang involved in procuring vehicles from finance companies on fake documents and selling them further were arrested by the Ludhiana police in Partap Singh Wala village today.
The arrested have been identified as Kamal Preet Singh alias Ashu of Haibowal, Narinder Kumar of Shimlapuri and Surjit Singh, also a resident of Haibowal. Some more members of the gang are still at large, said police.
Haibowal police received a tip-off about the gang taking vehicles to Uttar Pradesh for sale. Three tractors, a truck and a motorcycle were impounded in the raid.
Explaining the modus operandi of the gang, Superintendent of Police (City I) Ashish Chaudhary, said: “The arrested bought vehicles through finance companies. They just paid the minimum down payment for the vehicle and sold it further without clearing the remaining installments.”
During interrogation, the accused confessed to selling around ten financed vehicles in UP on cheap rates, said SP Chaudhary.
The police suspect that some employees of the finance companies may also be hand-in-glove with the gang. SP Chaudhary said the role of the finance company employees concerned in the transactions was also under investigation.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Fraud couple held in Dubai - TOI - 22 May 2008
NEW DELHI: A couple wanted in over 24 cases of cheating and fraud in Delhi has been arrested in Dubai with the help of Interpol. The accused, P K Jayram (45) and his wife Shobha (40), had duped several people in Delhi by allegedly floating bogus companies and had swindled crores of rupees, said the police. Jayram, a native of Madras, has invested in several Bollywood movies— a matter which the Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of Delhi police is probing.
The two were arrested on April 7 with the help of Interpol. Delhi police has approached the Interpol, asking for their deportation to Delhi. The accused had fled to Dubai few months back, after the racket came to light. The police have also learnt that the two are wanted in several cases of cheating in Delhi,UP, Gujarat and Chennai, where they had duped several innocent investors. They were nabbed with the help of a look out circular (LOC) was issued against them.
The police said that another couple that was in league with Jayram and Shobha is reported to be absconding. The gang had floated a bogus company in the name of a South Korea-based multinational company — Indian Household Healthcare Limited (IHHL)— in 2005.
The two were arrested on April 7 with the help of Interpol. Delhi police has approached the Interpol, asking for their deportation to Delhi. The accused had fled to Dubai few months back, after the racket came to light. The police have also learnt that the two are wanted in several cases of cheating in Delhi,UP, Gujarat and Chennai, where they had duped several innocent investors. They were nabbed with the help of a look out circular (LOC) was issued against them.
The police said that another couple that was in league with Jayram and Shobha is reported to be absconding. The gang had floated a bogus company in the name of a South Korea-based multinational company — Indian Household Healthcare Limited (IHHL)— in 2005.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Net telephony latest target for hackers - newindpress.com
LONDON: Leakage of credit card and bank account details on the internet has been a regular scenario, but the latest entrant in this virtual world of identity frauds involves hackers tapping into voice-over IP telephony accounts.
Newport Networks, one of the major VoIP equipment makers has highlighted this new type of breaching of privacy on the Internet. In fact hackers are making big-bucks by selling the usernames and passwords from voice-over IP (VoIP) phone accounts for more than stolen credit cards.
With this information anybody can use the telephone service for free.Net telephony fraud is still in the nascent stage and eavesdropping on calls is the most common security flaw.
However, Dave Gladwin, vice president of products at Newport Networks, thinks that this new trends of stealing usernames and passwords which are routinely sent across the network when a call is made is quite worrying.
"It is still at an embryonic stage but as voice adoption increases it becomes more of a problem and needs addressing," BBC quoted Gladwin, as saying.
These details are not sent as plain text, but are encoded in such a way as to be "easily captured and unobscured", said Gladwin.
While one can get credit card details by paying around 12 dollars each, VoIP account details fetch a slightly higher price, at 17 dollars.This problem is less bothersome for businesses, which routinely offer voice-over IP services for their employees as users are tied into a secure corporate network.
However, in case of consumers, relying on public or unsecured home wi-fi networks, this can pose as a threat."90 pc of carriers don't offer a secure VoIP service," said Gladwin.
Newport Networks, one of the major VoIP equipment makers has highlighted this new type of breaching of privacy on the Internet. In fact hackers are making big-bucks by selling the usernames and passwords from voice-over IP (VoIP) phone accounts for more than stolen credit cards.
With this information anybody can use the telephone service for free.Net telephony fraud is still in the nascent stage and eavesdropping on calls is the most common security flaw.
However, Dave Gladwin, vice president of products at Newport Networks, thinks that this new trends of stealing usernames and passwords which are routinely sent across the network when a call is made is quite worrying.
"It is still at an embryonic stage but as voice adoption increases it becomes more of a problem and needs addressing," BBC quoted Gladwin, as saying.
These details are not sent as plain text, but are encoded in such a way as to be "easily captured and unobscured", said Gladwin.
While one can get credit card details by paying around 12 dollars each, VoIP account details fetch a slightly higher price, at 17 dollars.This problem is less bothersome for businesses, which routinely offer voice-over IP services for their employees as users are tied into a secure corporate network.
However, in case of consumers, relying on public or unsecured home wi-fi networks, this can pose as a threat."90 pc of carriers don't offer a secure VoIP service," said Gladwin.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Record level of benefits fraud detected - Reuters 20 May 2008
LONDON (Reuters) - A record 140 million pounds of fraudulent benefit claims and overpayments were detected between 2006 and 2007, figures released by an independent watchdog on Tuesday showed.
The 26 percent increase on the 2004/5 figure was the fifth successive time record levels of fraud and overpayment had been detected by the Audit Commission in its National Fraud Initiative (NFI) report.
It said the figures were testament to better detection, but called for local authorities to adopt a zero tolerance approach to fraud because it made "both moral and financial sense".
"These are not victimless crimes and some of the fraud found is both blatant and shocking," said Commission Chairman Michael O'Higgins.
The 140 million pounds included 24 million in unnecessary housing benefits, four million in income support and job seeker allowance and 6.4 million in pensions paid after the claimants had died.
In addition, more than 16,000 deceased persons' blue disabled parking badges were cancelled.
One individual received council tax benefit, income support, incapacity benefit and disability living allowance while running a market stall in Lincolnshire and numerous businesses from his home.
In addition, his wife was claiming carer's allowance for looking after him.
The couple owned a convertible Mercedes sports car, enjoyed lavish holidays and had savings in excess of 100,000 pounds.
The NFI figures, which come out every two years, are computer-based, and match information such as housing benefit claims, pensions and social housing records from local councils, the NHS, police authorities, local probation boards and fire and rescue authorities across England.
The Commission refers any anomalies back to the council for further investigation.
"We now expect public bodies to do more to follow up the potential fraud that we have identified," the Commission said in its report.
"They should adopt a zero tolerance policy to fraud."
(Reporting by Avril Ormsby; Editing by Steve Addison)
The 26 percent increase on the 2004/5 figure was the fifth successive time record levels of fraud and overpayment had been detected by the Audit Commission in its National Fraud Initiative (NFI) report.
It said the figures were testament to better detection, but called for local authorities to adopt a zero tolerance approach to fraud because it made "both moral and financial sense".
"These are not victimless crimes and some of the fraud found is both blatant and shocking," said Commission Chairman Michael O'Higgins.
The 140 million pounds included 24 million in unnecessary housing benefits, four million in income support and job seeker allowance and 6.4 million in pensions paid after the claimants had died.
In addition, more than 16,000 deceased persons' blue disabled parking badges were cancelled.
One individual received council tax benefit, income support, incapacity benefit and disability living allowance while running a market stall in Lincolnshire and numerous businesses from his home.
In addition, his wife was claiming carer's allowance for looking after him.
The couple owned a convertible Mercedes sports car, enjoyed lavish holidays and had savings in excess of 100,000 pounds.
The NFI figures, which come out every two years, are computer-based, and match information such as housing benefit claims, pensions and social housing records from local councils, the NHS, police authorities, local probation boards and fire and rescue authorities across England.
The Commission refers any anomalies back to the council for further investigation.
"We now expect public bodies to do more to follow up the potential fraud that we have identified," the Commission said in its report.
"They should adopt a zero tolerance policy to fraud."
(Reporting by Avril Ormsby; Editing by Steve Addison)
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