Safexpay Complaint Leads Maha Police To INR 16,180 Cr Payment Gateway Scam

A hacking ring that allegedly hacked into the account of the payment gateway service provider Safexpay and other entities to syphon off money in an elaborate scam is being investigated by the Thane Police in Maharashtra.

The group is alleged to have syphoned off funds worth more than INR 16,180 Cr from different bank accounts over an unknown period of time, according to an FIR filed by the Thane Police, a copy of which has been seen by Inc42.

Delhi NCR-based Safexpay said in a statement that the investigation resulted from a police complaint it had filed in June 2023 regarding suspicious transactions amounting to INR 25 Cr detected on its payment gateway. 

Further investigation led Thane Police to uncover the scale of the scam, per the company.

The payment gateway scam is suspected to be spread over thousands of bank accounts, and the money is transferred into several other accounts, per the FIRs. The police probe team has recovered several forged documents from the accused, the FIRs noted.

“During the investigation, a separate and significant revelation came to light, exposing fraudulent transactions totalling INR 16,180 Cr, orchestrated by distinct entities utilising various fraudulent bank accounts entirely unrelated to Safexpay,” the company’s statement added. 

Following a complaint by a Thane Crime Branch official investigating Safexpay’s complaint, the Naupada Police on Friday (October 6) registered the FIR against Sanjay Singh, Amol Andale, Aman, Kedar, Sameer Dighe, Jitendra Pandey and one unidentified person under Indian Penal Code sections 420 (cheating), 409 (criminal breach of trust), 467, 468 (forgery), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention) and provisions of the Information Technology Act.

A spokesperson noted, “The company’s vigilance and prompt reporting to cybercrime units resulted in law enforcement agencies discovering a series of fraudulent transactions, which have no correlation with Safexpay.”

The sum of INR 16,180 Cr does not pertain exclusively to Safexpay, and it involves other entities that are unrelated to Safexpay. Additionally, the accused persons have no affiliation with Safexpay, the spokesperson clarified. 

“We are fully committed to closely collaborating with concerned agencies to ensure a thorough investigation into this matter,” added the company’s legal advisor.

Per the FIR, one of the accused, Jitendra Pandey, worked for 8-10 years with banks as a relationship and sales manager. The police suspect there may be many players in this scam, which has been going on for a while now and may have pan-India ramifications.