Gurgaon: The Gurgaon police on Friday took into custody a businessman from Anand Vihar, Sector 32, for his alleged involvement in a sophisticated cybercrime operation that led to the diversion of Rs 6.1 crore from a software firm’s account. According to the authorities, the funds were channelized into 141 accounts and e-wallets while leveraging a VPN service to cloak the perpetrators’ IP addresses and avoid detection.
The major breakthrough came with the interception of Harmeet Singh Malik, purported to be the mastermind of this large-scale fraud, at Mumbai airport just as he was preparing to depart for Dubai. With Malik’s arrest, the total number of individuals apprehended in this case has risen to six.
The company at the heart of the incident is Witzeal Technologies Pvt Ltd, specializing in software development and online gaming. A detailed complaint was lodged by Kushal Singh, the director of the company, disclosing that between December 6 and December 19, 2023, Rs 6.14 crore were illicitly withdrawn from the firm’s bank account. He claimed that throughout the unauthorized transactions, no SMS alerts or emails were sent to notify the company of the debits—transfers that were carried out using the Razorpay platform.
Following the complaint, an FIR was registered on January 17 under sections 419 (cheating by personation) and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Indian Penal Code. During interrogation, the earlier five detainees tipped the police about Harmeet Singh’s significant role in orchestrating the fraud. Singh, known to operate both from India and Dubai, was captured under the provisions of a lookout circular. Currently, he is under police remand for questioning until Tuesday, confirmed Siddhant Jain, DCP of cybercrime.
The investigation further uncovered that a portion of the stolen money amounting to Rs 10 lakh was traced to the ICICI bank account of Sector 65-based telecommunications firm Udaanpe Infoserve. CEO Shantanu Anand, apprehended on January 25, led the police to four additional suspects following his statement.
The unraveling chain implicated Udaanpe Infoserve’s then-Chief Technology Officer Tarun Kumar Dudeja, Delhi’s Hari Nagar residents Karthik Sharma and his brother Yash Sharma, and alleged hawala operator Rakesh Sharma of Bikaner, Rajasthan. It emerged that the misappropriated funds made their way through several bank accounts, were converted into USDT cryptocurrency, and funneled to crypto wallets based in Dubai.
Karthik Sharma, who runs a furniture shop, reportedly managed Udaanpe Infoserve’s bank account, with a debit card connected to that account being retrieved from him. Yash is accused of converting and transferring the money to Dubai as cryptocurrency, playing into the hands of the fraudsters there. Furthermore, Rakesh Sharma’s role appears to be providing bank accounts necessary for the operation, connected to the Dubai suspect. The search continues for two more individuals, Mohit Malik and Ketan, who remain at large.
Past incidents reflect a pattern of misuse against the Razorpay platform. Notably, in 2022, fraudulent transactions siphoned off 7.38 crore from customers. More recently this year, a businessman’s Razorpay account was hacked, culminating in a loss of 22.89 lakhs.
This case stands as a testament to the increasing sophistication and audacity of cybercrimes that continue to evolve with technological advancements, posing significant threats to businesses that increasingly rely on digital transactions. Gurgaon’s cybercrime unit’s ongoing investigation puts them at the forefront of unscrambling this complex web of digital larceny and holding the culprits to account.
