UPI fruad : BoM lossess Rs 25 crore

IN a case of suspected hacking into the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), a payment system for banking transactions that emerged post demonetisation, unidentified person ferreted about Rs. 25 crores through various bank accounts. What is shocking is that the accounts used were zero balance accounts, means there was no condition of maintaining minimum balance. And further astonishing fact about the cases is that it took bank nearly a year, during the audit, to realise the fraud perpetuated on them.



Simply put, people should be alert while using electronic mode for money transaction. In State alone nearly 12 FIRs in this connection were registered, including one in city. This crime also indicates the vulnerability of UPI that is being pushed by each of the banks to tide over cash crisis. In city, the victim is Bank of Maharashtra which approached Lakadganj police station to registered the FIR after learning about the transfer of money.
Police Sub-Inspector (PSI) Hemant Thorat said that an offence was registered against one Deepak Ashok Dumbre (25), a resident of Mahesh Nagar, Nandanvan, after his account was used to transfer the money. Officials of Bank of Maharashtra were sure that Dumbre was at fault as every transaction needs account holders authorisation for completing the transfer process.
The complainant stated that Dumbre had done two transactions of Rs one lakh each from his BoM account. The money was transferred to accounts in two private banks and cops are now investigating the persons in whose name those accounts are maintained. However as yet police do not have any evidence to pin blame on Dumbre in the said fraud,. it is learnt. But there is possibility of someone hacking into the UPI of BoM and transferring Rs two lakh from the zero balance account. The fraud came to notice during the yearly bank audit.
A senior official informed that 12 such frauds have came to fore at Pune, Mumbai and Aurangabad and FIRs were registered against the account holders. In all the cases, the money was transferred from zero balance account or accounts having minimal amount.
Prima facie it's beyond comprehension as to how banking system allowed the transfer of money when the accounts were not having that much balance. This fact points to flaw in the software of the banks which was fully exploited by the persons having high degree of skill in manipulating through minefield of data.

What is UPI?

UPI is a payment system launched by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and regulated by Reserve Bank of India. It facilitates instant fund transfer between two bank accounts through the mobile platform. UPI is built over Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) for transferring funds using Virtual Payment Address (a unique ID provided by the bank), Account Number with IFS Code, Mobile Number with MMID (Mobile Money Identifier), Aadhaar Number, or a one-time use Virtual ID. An MPIN (Mobile banking Personal Identification number) is required to confirm each of the payment, and this explains banks suspicion about involvement of respective account holder.