Costly setback: ‘Suspicious’

A trivial ₹800 transaction from a cyber fraudster’s account triggered a major freeze on Google Pay’s bank account, as Mohali police continue to pursue the culprits behind a ₹1-crore online trading scam that targeted a city-based senior citizen.
The probe was launched after Harpinder Singh Saini, 68, a resident of Sector 79, lost over ₹1 crore to fraudsters, who lured him into investing in online trading of shares.
As Saini started investing through the links shared by scammers in WhatsApp groups, he was notified that his investment value was increasing. When he decided to withdraw the money, he was asked to invest more and pay commission, following which an unsuspecting Saini ended up paying over ₹1 crore.
After Saini failed to withdraw the amount or encash his shares, he realised that he had been duped and approached cyber police.
“As soon as we received the complaint, we checked the bank account in which he transferred the money, which is known as a ‘Layer-2” (L2) account. We further froze all those bank accounts in which payments were transferred through that L2 bank account. We did not know the account holder’s details but could see that the scammer had made online payments to HDFC Bank, SBI, Indian Payment Bank, among others. We blocked all these accounts,” a cyber police officer said.
It later came to fore that a bank account of payments service provider Google Pay was also frozen because a payment of ₹800 was made in its account from the same L2 account.
Generally, there are two types of online transfers, direct and merchant. In direct transfers, the amount transferred is credited directly to the receiver’s account. However, in merchant transfers, the amount is credited briefly to the payment service provider’s account, which then makes settlement to the original receiver, officials privy to the matter said.
Deputy superintendent of police (DSP) cyber Jatinder Chauhan said it was only after the company’s officials showed us the documents that the transaction was indeed a genuine one, their bank account was unfrozen.
“We are bound to freeze all the accounts in which payments are transferred through a suspected account. After the company officials proved that the transaction of ₹800 was genuine, we put a lien (hold) on the transaction and released the bank account after verification,” DSP Chauhan said.
Caught off guard, Google Pay officials have written to the Union ministry of home affairs, requesting amendment in lien provisions and blocking only the disputed amount.
Gaming app meets similar fate
In another similar case, Mohali cyber police froze the bank account of Hike gaming app while probing into the complaint of a Sector-71 resident, who alleged fraud of ₹27,000 on the pretext of increasing credit card limit.
The gaming app has been developed by Kavin Bharti Mittal, son of Airtel founder Sunil Bharti Mittal.
After 21-year-old Sahil lost his money, he lodged a complaint. The cyber police, following protocol, froze multiple bank accounts in which payments were made through the suspected account.
The suspected fraudster, however, had transferred ₹27,000 to Hike gaming app’s bank account. The bank concerned was informed for recovery and identification of the fraudster, officials said.
After the company’s local officials contacted police, the ₹27,000 transaction was put on hold and their bank account was released by the cyber police.
Issuing concern over such incidents, DSP Chauhan said residents should never transfer money to strangers without proper verification.