Criminal Case Study

1. Pune Citibank Mphasis Call
Center Fraud
By :-
Rishabh Chokshi
Subject :- Principles of Forensic Engineering
Faculty :-
Dr. Mitali Patel

2. Content
• Introduction
• Name of suspects
• Crime Pattern
• Investigation
• Judgement
• Reference

3. Introduction
• In 2005, US $ 3,50,000 from Citibank accounts of four US customers
were dishonestly transferred to bogus accounts in Pune, through
internet.
• Some employees of a call center gained the confidence of the US
customers and obtained their PIN (Personal Identification Numbers)
numbers under the guise of helping the customers out of difficult
situations.
• Later they used these numbers to commit fraud.
• They were not breaking through firewalls or decoding encrypted
software. instead, they are said to have identified glaring loopholes in
the MphasiS system.

4. Name of suspects
Former customer care executives:-
• Ivan Thomas (30)
• Steph-an Daniel (24)
• Siddhartha Mehta (20)
Unit supervisor:-
• Bijoy Alexander (26, HR)
• Maurelene Fernandes (25)

5. Crime Pattern
• When Ivan Thomas and Stephen Daniel joined MphasiS BFL’s call
center in Pune, the first thing they were taught was to strike a friendly
conversation with Citibank’s global customers, who were calling in
with problems related to their bank accounts and credit cards.
• The call center employees are checked when they go in and out so
they can not copy down numbers and therefore they could not have
noted these down.

6. • When they quit their jobs, the three
employees carried with them the details of
the four accounts.
• They used the services of SWIFT (Society
for Worldwide Interbank Financial
Telecommunication) to transfer funds.

7. • They make bank account in Pune to transfer funds and also make fake
e-mail account.
• The original account holders never got the confirmations they would
have otherwise got in the event of a funds transfer.
• Neither Citibank nor MphasiS detected anything amiss after the first
illegal transfer in November 2004.

8. • In march 2005, a series of rapid fire wire transfers took place, with
money being moved to about a dozen bank accounts opened with the
help of documents allegedly forged by John and co-accused Anand
Karnavat, an ICICI home loans agents.
• John and Karnavat are among 16 arrested in the case who are non –
BPO employees and whose role was largely to facilitate the illegal
accounts.
• However, Citibank finally smelt a rat, after at least one account –
holder complained.

9. Investigation
• It alerted Citigroup Investigation Services in Mumbai, headed by
Rajendra Bhagwat.
• Bhagwat’s team in Mumbai immediately touched base with the
recipient banks in Pune and confirmed the fraud.
• The Pune police’s cyber crime cell was alerted and a trap duly laid.
• On April 1, Ivan and a co- accused, Shailesh Bhulewar, came to check
about a transfer in a Rupee Co-operative Bank branch in Pune.

10. • The police immediately come into action and detained the suspects.
• There have been a total of 16 arrests since that day, with investigation
throwing up fresh details virtually every day.

11. Judgement
• Court held that Section 43(a) was applicable here due to the nature of
unauthorized access involved to commit transactions.
• Many of the accused have been charged under section 67 of the IT
Act,2000 and Indian Penal Code Sections 420(cheating), 465, 467 and
671 (forgery) besides other section.
• The police say they have recovered about Rs 8.5 lakh From Ivan

12. Reference
• Legal service india.com
• Times of India
• India today

13. Thank You