‘Money mules’ nabbed

CHENNAI: The cyber crime cell of the CB-CID has arrested two Mumbai-based ‘money mules’ involved in Rs 26.55- lakh online bank fraud and ‘phishing e-mail’ cases of 2009.

In November last, S Salahudeen, a businessman from Tiruchy, filed a complaint with the CB-CID, alleging fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 26.55 lakh from his bank account via Internet banking.

Acting on the directive of ADGP, CB-CID, Archana Ramasundaram, three ‘money mules’ - persons who provide their account number and ATM/debit card for transferring money from the victim’s account for a commission - were earlier arrested from Chennai and Bangalore. One of the main accused, B S Sainath Reddy, was apprehended in Hyderabad on March 4, the CB-CID said in a release on Sunday.

On May 17, a team led by CB-CID Inspector G Velmurugan arrested the fourth ‘money mule’, Vinayak Shivaji Khandare, from Mumbai, as he received a sum of Rs 50,000 from Salahudeen’s account. “Khandare was an office assistant in a leading private bank in Mumbai,” a CB-CID officer said.

The CCC team also arrested 25-year-old Ibrahim Ansari from Mumbai, as he allegedly received Rs 25,000 from the account of complainant V Sarvananan in a phishing e-mail case.

On August 22, Saravanan, an engineer from Madurai, lodged a complaint, claiming that Rs 75,510 was fraudulently transferred from his savings bank account online without his knowledge to some other account, following his response to a phishing e-mail purported to have been sent by his bank. The police seized mobile phones and bank documents from the two men and produced them before the II MM Court in Egmore on Sunday.