Cyber thief Sanjana provides cops vital clues

Batala, August 11 : Sanjana, one of the main accused arrested by the Batala police for committing a high-profile cyber theft running into crores, has revealed that data bases of banks and cellular companies were openly available with hackers at Lakshmi Nagar market in New Delhi.
A local court sent the three accused, including Sanjana, 24, to six-day police remand.
SSP Daljinder Singh Dhillon, who is supervising the entire exercise, remained non-committal on the exact amount swindled by the accused. “Several crores have been swindled from hundreds of customers. The actual amount will be known only after investigations are completed,” he said.
Sanjana, the brain behind the scam, told the police that apart from stealing database from a Gurgaon call centre, she would often hire a hacker from Lakshmi Nagar to get information about customers.
Her modus operandi was to deposit Rs 2 lakh in a hacker’s account. In turn, he would e-mail the database to her. Police say the hacker would use accounts of people living in slum areas. “The hacker would pay that person Rs 2,000 for using his account which, in any case, would be closed after a transaction was completed.
Sanjana, who is fluent in English, knew several hackers in Delhi and subsequently built up a data of thousands of customers. She would call up a customer and inform him of his credit and debit card details. She disclosed that hundreds of hackers, from whom any type of information could be had, are operating in Lakshmi Nagar, the SSP said.
He said four teams had been dispatched to Delhi; two teams had made Lakshmi Nagar their base following which investigations were being conducted there.
“Underground hackers are available aplenty in Delhi. They do not have a social presence, nor do they have a website but they market their services from several low-profile shops in Lakshmi Nagar. Once I came in contact with these vendors, I would negotiate wholesale prices and receive sample databases for proof for as little as Rs 2 lakh,” Sanjana told the police.
Investigators say the accused used to fleece insurance customers too, although banking clients remained their favourite “because that is where the big money is.”
An officer said Sanjana remained a tough nut to crack during questioning. “Initially, she took us for a ride. It was only when the SSP made her sit with the two other accused and cross-questioned all three in the presence of cyber theft experts that she cracked,” said an investigator.