Thane: Police arrested two men in connection with Rs 16,180 crore payment gateway fraud

In Thane city, Maharashtra, the police have arrested two individuals for their suspected involvement in a financial crime. This crime pertains to the unauthorized access of a payment gateway service provider's system and embezzling over Rs 16,180 crore.

According to the police, the fraud had been taking place for a long time, but it came to light after a complaint was lodged with the Srinagar police station about the hacking of the payment gateway system of the company in April 2023 and Rs 25 crore being siphoned off. During the probe, the cyber cell team came across suspicious transactions of more than Rs 16,180 crore.

According to the FIR, Jitendra Pandey, one of the accused, held a relationship and sales manager position with banks for eight to ten years prior, the authorities believe that there may be numerous participants in this massive racket, which has been going on for a while and may have pan-Indian repercussions that touch numerous businesses and people. The police had previously stated that the suspect reportedly formed many partnership firms using fictitious paperwork in order to launder the money.

Naupada police in the city on October 6 registered a case against five persons under sections 420 (cheating), 409 (criminal breach of trust), 467, 468 (forgery), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention) and provisions of the Information Technology Act. As many as five partnership firms were set up by the accused, and transactions to the tune of Rs 16,180 crore were revealed after the inspection of 260 bank statements, police had said.