Former Bank Employees at the Center of Massive Thane Cyber Fraud Scandal

In the Thane cyber fraud case, it has been revealed that two of the five accused had prior employment with banks and were well-versed in the Know Your Customer (KYC) process. These individuals enticed slum dwellers into opening bank accounts in their names, subsequently facilitating significant financial transactions. In addition to these charges, the accused are also suspected of deceiving income tax and GST authorities. These agencies will carry out a separate investigation into these offenses. The police estimate the total value of the transactions to be ₹16,181.41 crore and are actively tracing the origin of these funds.

In a related incident reported in July, a cyber fraud involving ₹25 crore took place through the escrow account of a payment gateway company. It was discovered that ₹1.39 crore of this amount was transferred to Riyal Enterprises, a company with offices in Vashi and Belapur, resulting in a cheating case against the company owners. Investigations revealed that some of the 260 bank accounts associated with Riyal Enterprises and its five partnership firms belonged to economically disadvantaged individuals.

One of the accused, Amol Andhale, held the position of a sales manager in multiple banks and was skilled in the KYC process. He obtained documents such as Aadhar and PAN cards from slum dwellers and used them to open bank accounts, subsequently transferring funds from these accounts. Another accused, Kedar Dighe, had experience as a relationship manager and convinced slum dwellers to open multiple bank accounts under the pretext of offering them bank loans. Most of the money transferred abroad by the accused was considered black money.

Punjabrao Ugale, joint commissioner of police at Thane Police, mentioned that accounts were opened not only in public but also in private banks. Their investigation revealed that the accused conducted transactions totaling ₹350 crore through a prominent private bank.