Thiruvananthapuram: A B Tech graduate has been arrested from Mumbai for committing fraud in the name of Kerala Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF) through a fake UPI (Unified Payments Interface) id.

Maharashtra native Sabajit Raghunath Yadav, 24, was arrested by the team of cybercrime police from Thiruvananthapuram.

Only Rs 118 trickled into Sabajit's account during the short time his account was active. Instead of the bank account details, the UPI lets clients transfer money using a specific id.

The UPI is available on Google Pay, Bhim app and PhonePe.

The fraud was committed by creating a fake id that was similar to the government id.

Instead of the official id, keralacmdrf@sbi, he circulated a fake ID, kerelacmdrf@sbi, by misspelling Kerala. It is not easy to spot the difference at a glance. After the fraud was noticed, the Kerala Police had sent letters to National Payment Corporation of India, an umbrella organisation for all payments, and the State Bank of India. The fake id was immediately removed.

The culprit was arrested after a probe led by cybercrime DySP N Jiji. The bank account details and mobile number helped the police to track down the culprit. The team comprising SI R Rojil went to Mumbai to make the arrest.

The accused was presented before the chief judicial magistrate court and remanded.