Cyber fraudsters allegedly siphon Rs 22.30 crore from Tamil Nadu department
Unidentified persons allegedly accessed a bank account to transfer rural development funds through an online portal.
Cyber fraudsters allegedly siphoned off Rs 22.30 crore from the Tamil Nadu Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department, according to a First Information Report (FIR). The funds, which were allocated by the 15th Finance Commission for improving rural primary healthcare infrastructure, were held in an HDFC Bank account in Chennai's CIT Nagar.
According to South First, Block Development Officer and Superintendent Ramprasad lodged a complaint with the Chennai Police Commissioner regarding the unauthorised transfer of Rs 22,30,04,879. The fraud reportedly involved an online portal, Squareuplive.com/rdprd, developed by Lead Winner Corp for the bank's Single Nodal Account management system.
The New Indian Express reported that a senior police officer suspects fraudsters gained control of the portal after an email containing a malicious link was sent. Preliminary investigations suggest the perpetrators gained control of the website around September 12 or 13 and spent over 10 days identifying vulnerabilities before the transactions occurred.
The complaint alleges that user credentials associated with Block Development Offices in Keezhaiyur, Mandapam, and Dharapuram were misused to facilitate 46 transactions. These funds were transferred to various companies and individuals across the country, including Samvyadh Marketing, Krishna Kirana Store, and Nexvora Commerce Private Limited.
The Chennai Central Crime Branch's Cyber Crime Wing has registered a case and launched an investigation. A senior officer stated that the IP address used in the fraud keeps shifting between global locations, making the money trail difficult to trace.