Police in Kolkata make five arrests in case involving Aadhaar-enabled payments system fraud case

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• Oct 5, 2023 | Poonam Nath

Five people were detained by Kolkata police in connection with an Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AEPS) fraud scheme...

Digital Desk: On Wednesday, the Kolkata Police detained five people in connection with an Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AEPS) fraud investigation. The arrests were made in response to a complaint filed by Tushar Kanti Mukherjee, 46, who reported a case of identity theft and financial fraud.

According to the complaint, a bunch of fraudsters allegedly posed as actual bank account holders and obtained private information from unsuspecting victims, including Aadhaar card numbers and bank account details.

They went a step further in the instance of Mukherjee, fabricating his fingerprints to manipulate the AEPS system.

The scammers used the complainant Mukherjee's stolen electronic data to carry out unauthorised transactions, stealing roughly Rs. 28,900 from him.

After receiving the allegation, a team of police officers gathered information about recent AEPS fraud incidents. Officials discovered a network of criminals operating remotely from Islampore, West Bengal, and Araria, Bihar.

Based on these results, authorities conducted raids in the suspected regions, resulting in the arrest of two key suspects.

Moktar Alam and Rousan Ali, the arrested males, have been recognised. Both were discovered to be involved in a number of situations identical to Mukherjee's. They were in charge of producing bogus fingerprints that were used to steal money from victims' bank accounts.

All five apprehended suspects were taken to Lalbazar and brought before the court. The case is still being investigated.

Further interrogations revealed the presence of additional individuals. More raids were performed based on information, and three more persons were detained from an Islampore hotel, including 29-year-old Musha Alam, 26-year-old Naushad Hayat, and Posirul Alam.

During the search, officials also confiscated incriminating materials and documentation, including ready-to-use cloned fingerprints matched with associated Aadhaar numbers, photocopies of Aadhaar cards, a CSP deed, and bank debit cards.