Chandigarh: Punjab Police’s State Cybercrime Division has unearthed a payment fraud with the arrest of four individuals involved in manipulating the Anaaj Kharid Portal by diverting farmers’ crop payments to their own bank accounts.
Those arrested have been identified as Manish, Jasvir Singh, Angrej Singh and Balwinder Singh. Police teams have also recovered digital devices and routers used by them to commit the fraud.
Explaining their modus operandi, Additional Director General of Police (AGDP), Cybercrime Division, V Neerja said here on Thursday January 9, 2024 that the accused used to divert the payments to farmers by fraudulently replacing farmers’ mobile numbers with their own. Thereafter, they used the same to update bank account information of the farmers.
To avoid detection, the accused would restore the original details immediately after the payment was processed.
The total diverted amount detected so far during the investigation is about Rs. 25 lakh. The amount is likely to go up as the investigation progresses. A statewide operation is being conducted to nab other accused persons involved in the fraud, added the ADGP.
As per the information, a complaint was received from Food and Civil Supplies Department, Punjab in which it come to light that some farmers have not received the payment of their crops procured during the 2024 paddy season. Further verification revealed that the payment of these farmers has been credited to various bank accounts belonging to different persons.
Citing preliminary enquiry, the ADGP further said that the IP records and other data was scrutinized and information regarding the bank accounts revealed the details about unauthorized access of the Anaaj Kharid Portal and the diversion of the crop payment to different accounts.
During the investigation, it was also revealed that a mobile number and a mobile device was purchased from SAS Nagar district on fake identity, which was used to obtain OTPs for altering the bank accounts of farmers on Anaaj Kharid Portal. The gang was running their operation from remote areas of Sri Muktsar Sahib.
An internet connection was also installed for the purpose of unauthorized access of the portal and altering the bank records of the farmers.
Three teams from Cybercrime Division headed by Inspector Jujhar Singh, Inspector Deepak Bhatia and Sub-Inspector Ranjit used multiple OSINT techniques to establish the whereabouts of the accused which led to the arrest of the accused from Moga and Sri Muktsar Sahib districts.
Significantly, the ADGP did not rule the connivance of officials of Mandi Board or Food Supply Department and commission agents, who might have shared sensitive information and some technical lacuna of the portal with masterminds of the fraud.
Raids are being conducted to arrest the remaining accused in the case, she added.
