Two ex-staffers among 3 held for duping money transfer firm

The accused include Saurabh Jain (32), a registered distributor of the firm. He claimed that he was roped in by the two ex-employees, Sanjay Sharma (45) and Chandrakant (32), who promised him a large share in the illicitly transferred funds.

“Sharma and Chandrakant disclosed that they were disgruntled due to alleged non-payment of pending salaries after resignation. They misused their knowledge of the internal systems and gained access to the company's admin portal,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Nidhin Valsan said.

He said the trio orchestrated a sophisticated cyber fraud targeting the money transfer and holiday booking company by exploiting backend access to its wallet crediting system.

“The firm detected unauthorised wallet transactions worth Rs 36 lakh on May 28, 2024, without any actual deposits made into its official bank account.

“The system, which allows wallet credits only after verifying corresponding bank deposits by retailers or distributors, had been bypassed using internal administrator-level credentials,” the officer said.

A case under Section 420 (cheating) of the IPC was registered, and technical analysis of cyber footprints led the police to Saurabh, whose distributor ID was linked to a retailer account under the name Rani Singh that had received the entire Rs 36 lakh in three unauthorised transactions.

The accused misused their knowledge of the internal systems and gained unauthorised access to the company's admin portal, which facilitates wallet transactions from the company's account to distributors' account, the DCP said.

Sharma and Chandrakant were subsequently arrested and confessed during interrogation, the police claimed. The accused allegedly converted the wallet credits into cash through accounts controlled by Jain.

The police recovered four mobile phones and data storage devices used in executing the fraud. Investigators also seized digital evidence, including IP logs, email credentials, recharge patterns and login sessions linking all three accused to the same devices and Wi-Fi networks, the officer said.

An investigation is underway to trace the entire trail of the siphoned funds and determine whether more employees or external actors were involved in the conspiracy. PTI