Police bust gang which hacked mobile phones to commit fraudulent online purchases

Thane, Oct 8 (PTI) Bhayandar Police in the district has arrested eight persons and busted a gang which committed large-scale online frauds by hacking mobile phones through fake applications, officials said on Wednesday.

"The accused obtained OTPs and sensitive bank details from unsuspecting citizens after infecting their phones through fraudulent links. They then used these details to purchase expensive mobile phones through Flipkart and later sold the phones to other people," said an official release.

Police started probing the case after officers Sanjay Shipane and Ravindra Wagh found Rinkukumar Shriramjilal Bairwa, a resident of Rajasthan with 11 premium mobile phones under suspicious circumstances last month.

Bairwa had allegedly hacked some people's bank accounts and purchased mobile phones worth Rs 4.77 lakh on Flipkart. Following a complaint from InstaKart Services Pvt Ltd, a case was registered against him.

Investigation found that he was part of an inter-state gang which hacked phones using phishing links and enabling features such as call and SMS forwarding, UPI PIN grabbing and Gmail access, the release said.

Acting on intelligence, the police arrested six persons from Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan besides Navi Mumbai and Bhiwandi, and later nabbed the main accused, Hardy alias Prince Kamlesh Sajnani, from Chhattisgarh on October 6.

Police also seized 107 high-end mobile phones from their possession. Further probe is underway, the release said. PTI COR KRK