The police suspect that an international gang is involved in the racket and have sought help of investigating agencies to arrest the accused, who are still absconding.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone II), Subhash Trivedi, said: “We have got names of some people who are in Singapore and who might be behind this racket. The arrested youth, Jitesh Gavit, only collects the Internet account holder's names and password. We are looking for the kingpins involved in this case and if needed we will take help of different agencies to assist us.”

On January 25, Branch Manager of the HDFC Bank at Parle Point, Khursheed Mistry lodged a complaint of cheating at the Umra Police Station alleging that money was illegally transferred from eight HDFC account holders of Mumbai to an account of one Paresh Dhaduk of Surat city through the bank’s online services.

The police later questioned 21-year-old Paresh who said that his friend Jitesh Gavit, who resides in Nalasopara area in Mumbai, came to Surat and told him that he is in urgent need of an account with the HDFC bank, as he was expecting some cash being transferred from Surat. Paresh then gave his bank account number and password to Gavit.

Acting on the complaint, a police team left for Mumbai with Paresh and arrested Gavit.