STF arrests two for hacking server of UP Cooperative Bank

Lucknow, Sep 5 (IANS) The Special Task Force (STF) in Uttar Pradesh have arrested two men for allegedly attempting to steal Rs 146 crore by hacking the server of UP Cooperative Bank Ltd in Lucknow.

The duo, Amrendra Kumar Singh of Mau and Sunil Kumar Yadav of Varanasi, were arrested from near a mall in the city's Gomti Nagar on Wednesday.

The incident was reported on October 15 last year and a case was lodged on the complaint of the bank’s assistant general manager, Ajay Kumar Tripathi when he suspected cyber fraud.

The accused were carrying a cash reward of Rs 25,000 each since their name surfaced during investigation of the case and arrest of eight people, including the prime accused (a former bank manager), on October 31, 2022.

The miscreants had employed three hackers from Mumbai for the online bank heist and also sought help of three bank employees for the cyber heist, said officials.

A B.Com pass out from BHU, the accused Amrendra Kumar Singh told cops he worked as a contractor in zila panchayat and the PWD in Mau between 2000 and 2018 and then took up the job of a property broker.

During this stint, he met Sunil Kumar Yadav, Ravi Verma, Gyan Dev Pal, Dhruv Kumar and others.

In 2021, Singh met a hacker who had expertise in transferring bank money into dead accounts by taking a bank’s server on remote access control.

Thereafter, they met the assistant manager of the cooperative bank, Mahmoodabad in Sitapur, Karmveer Singh and the accused studied the bank’s system before hacking it.

On October 14, the prime accused and former manager of the bank R.S. Dubey, along with Ravi Verma and Gyandev Pal, went to the bank after 6 p.m. and installed a key logger and a device.

The next day, five teams of hackers comprising 20 people assembled near the KD Singh ‘Babu’ Stadium.

Dubey and others started the operation at lunch time.

The accused transferred Rs 146 crore in the accounts of companies owned by one Ganga Sagar and then went to an eatery for refreshments.

But prompt action by the cyber cell foiled the gang’s plan to withdraw the money as they put a freeze on the bank accounts.

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