Cops recover ₹91L in Kesco cyber fraud case, 6 arrested

TNN / Aug 15, 2024, 05:10 IST

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Cops recover ₹91L in Kesco cyber fraud case, 6 arrested

Kanpur: In a significant breakthrough, police have recovered Rs 91.22 lakh and returned it to Kesco through the court in connection with a cyber fraud case.
The incident involved the tampering of Kesco's payment gateway, resulting in a loss of approximately Rs 1.68 crore. The recovery efforts were led by a team under the supervision of the deputy commissioner of police (Crime).
As per the communique issued by the Commissionerate office, the incident was reported on July 27, 2023, by Rajeev Ranjan, the regional head of ICICI Bank. Cyber criminals had stolen around Rs 1.68 crore from customers who made bill payments and recharges on the Kesco website between June and July 2023. The perpetrators altered the URL of the payment gateway, diverting the funds to their own accounts.
Following the report, a case was registered under charges of breach of trust, fraud, and violations of the IT Act.

Kesco consumers pay their electricity bills online through the ICICI Bank gateway. After payment, the bank transfers the money to Kesco's account. However, approximately Rs 1.68 crore deposited by 1905 consumers was not received by Kesco. Later, it was discovered that the ICICI Bank gateway had been tampered with, and the funds were transferred to another account. A large number of consumers had made payments, but the amount had not been transferred to the bank.

The cyber crime Branch investigated the case and unravelled the entire network of fraud by connecting every thread. They arrested six accused namely Suhail Khan, a resident of Delhi, Vivek Kumar Sharma, an electricity contractor, Anil Kumar; Karan Rana, Yogendra Singh, and Shakti, all residents of Baghpat.
"The investigation revealed that Vivek Kumar Sharma, the electricity contractor, had opened 22 accounts. Yogendra and his wife were also account holders. Yogendra confessed to being in contact with Vivek Kumar Sharma and had opened an account in the name of KESCO Electronic at his behest," stated the communique further.

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