Kochi: The Kochi City police on Saturday said they have nabbed an Uttar Pradesh native for duping a Mattanchery-based businessman of Rs 10 lakh in yet another incident of cyber fraud. Dheeraj Giri, 28, was arrested by a team of Mattanchery police from his apartment in UP's Greater Noida.

The police seized several bank passbooks, ATM cards, chequebooks and Aadhaar cards from the apartment. Giri has been identified as a serial cyber fraudster. Kochi Deputy Commissioners of Police Juvvanapudi Mahesh and Aswathy Jiji announced the details of the arrest to the media.

The accused trapped the businessman on October 31 by sending a message to his phone number, which looked like an authentic alert from the bank to update his Aadhaar details. The link in the message contained an APK (Android Package Kit) file, which is required to install an Android app. The dupers gained total access to the businessman's smartphone as soon as he clicked the link. The accused made several bank transactions to 41 different bank accounts using the one-time passwords from the victim's bank accessed through the phone from October 31 night to the next morning.

The police sought the help of Google to track down the origin of the URL used by the fraud and managed to find the mobile numbers, email accounts and IP addresses used to trick the victim. The police then tracked the address used to buy the SIM cards. The police zeroed in on the accused and, using the details and found that the Bengaluru police had already approached his bank as part of a probe into a scam worth over Rs 1 crore.

The police suspect more people are involved in the scam, and an investigation is ongoing. The police have found that Giri used the money he amassed through fraud to lead a luxurious life. Apart from the flat, he owns luxury vehicles, too.

A team comprising Mattancherry inspector Shibin K A, sub-inspector Jimmy Jose, assistant sub-inspector Samad P E, senior civil police officers Edwin Rose, Subith Kumar, and Dhaneesh, and civil police officer Febin conducted the probe under the supervision of Mattancherry ACP Kiran P B IPS and control room ACP P H Ibrahim.