When a South Delhi businessman recently filed a complaint that he had been duped of Rs 9 lakh by cybercriminals, cops thought they had one more routine case to crack.

But they were in for a surprise. Investigation revealed that the money siphoned off through a Unified Payments Interface (UPI) link was credited into four Jan Dhan accounts opened in the names of labourers in Jharkhand's Jamtara district. It was later withdrawn using duplicate thumb impressions.

The police then contacted the account holders. One of them disclosed that some people, who claimed to be bank officials, had approached him and taken copies of documents like Aadhaar, ration and BPL cards, besides his thumb impression. They said this was to open his account under the Jan Dhan scheme, launched in 2014 to bring about financial inclusion by providing banking services to all households in the country.

Later, the labourer received a bank passbook. "During verification, we found that all information was correct but the bank name and the account number were different," a senior cop said.

This is not a one-off case. Money siphoned off from several businessmen in Delhi through banking and mobile wallet frauds is going to poor people's accounts controlled by online crooks across states through a fast-widening network.

In another such case, a resident of South Delhi's Hauz Khas had lost Rs 3.7 lakh to cyber fraud. The money was later traced to bank accounts in far-flung areas.

Here's how it is happening. Fraudsters approach the poor and illiterate in Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal and northeastern states for opening Jan Dhan accounts that enable people to receive government scheme benefits.

Police investigation revealed that thumb impressions taken on plain paper were scanned digitally. Frauds use polymer chemical stamp-making machines to create rubber thumbs to retain cash withdrawal controls. They also use photoshop to clean up images.

In some cases, villagers also 'sell' their accounts for cyber cheats to receive and withdraw money.

This 'cashback' emboldens criminals to trap more and more people in cyber frauds, police probe has revealed.

"It is fraud within a fraud conmen siphon off the money of common people mostly living in urban areas and transfer it within a few minutes to multiple bank accounts in rural areas," said Anyesh Roy, DCP of Delhi Police's Cyber Crime Cell.

Jiten Jain, a cyber and economic offence expert, said that opening a savings account needed two guarantors a decade ago, but now bank representatives reach people's doorsteps, taking necessary documents, signatures and thumb impressions. "We do not know who they are and what happens to the documents. Conmen might as well be misusing details from these documents," he said. Anuj Agrawal, another cyber expert, said that selling bank accounts in northeastern states and districts like Jamtara and Dumka in Jharkhand is a common practice.

In September, the Delhi Police arrested a Nigerian national for online frauds. During the investigation, it was revealed that the accused and his associates created fake profiles on social networking sites and trapped unsuspecting people. They would get the proceeds transferred to fake accounts.

In September, the Gurugram Police registered an FIR against a woman who posed as an NRI on a social networking platform before duping a man of Rs 19.30 lakh. After striking a fake business deal, the woman asked him to transfer the sum to several fake accounts, including one in Mizoram, which he did.

THE CYBER FRAUDS

About 150 cases of cyber fraud are registered every month in Delhi. After having a field day in credit/debit card and net banking-related frauds, cybercriminals have started targeting classified portals using UPI links. UPI enables bank account-holders to send and receive money using a PIN or a Unique ID-Virtual Payment Address (VPA). As soon as products are advertised for sale, fraudsters pose as sellers and engage with buyers and receive money through apps.

On December 8, the police arrested a Nigerian national who allegedly duped Rs 9.5 lakh from a Hari Nagar resident through online fraud. In June, cops arrested three Nigerian nationals for cheating people of lakhs of rupees. They used to contact people on social media platforms and offer services for obtaining visas of various countries. They would then ask people to deposit money in various bank accounts.

Since the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) made KYC compliance mandatory for users of banks, digital wallets and financial institutions, cybercriminals are using it as a lever to cheat people. Instead of going through a tedious documentation process, people prefer shortcuts like downloading apps and feeding information into these. This makes them vulnerable to frauds.

THE BANKING LOOPHOLES

The Delhi Police has written to the Finance Ministry and the RBI for plugging banking loopholes, especially during verification and documentation of account holders, sources said.

"A state-level coordination committee holds quarterly meetings in the presence of a general manager-rank RBI officer to analyse gaps in banking systems. On behalf of the Delhi Police, a nodal officer has been appointed for the purpose who raises these issues," a cop said.

In 2016 itself, the RBI raised concerns that Jan Dhan accounts can be misused by 'money mules', and warned that they are "very vulnerable" to frauds. It asked banks to be on guard against such activities.

The concern was that third parties could be used to launder the proceeds of fraud schemes (such as phishing and identity theft) by criminals who gain illegal access to deposit accounts by recruiting them as 'money mules'.

The withdrawal limit for Jan Dhan accounts is capped at Rs 10,000 per month for fully KYC compliant customers. For non or partially KYC compliant account holders, it is Rs 5,000 within the monthly limit of Rs 10,000. Rs 1 lakh is the monthly deposit cap.