Woman held for hacking demat account selling shares

Mumbai, Nov 4 (PTI) Police have arrested a woman for allegedly hacking into one person's demat account, selling high-value shares and diverting the proceeds to purchase penny stocks, an official said on Wednesday.

Based on a complaint filed by the female victim, a case was registered at the South Region Cyber Police Station.

The incident occurred in August, when an unidentified individual used internet-based tools to gain unauthorised access to the victim's demat account. The perpetrator sold shares worth Rs 4,58,34,579 and utilised the proceeds to purchase low-value 'penny stocks' worth Rs 1,71,60,032. Following the incident, the police successfully froze shares valued at Rs 2,86,74,547.

Investigation confirmed that the One-Time Password (OTP) required to log into the demat account was sent to the complainant's email address. The accused woman had illegally obtained a SIM card linked to the mobile number associated with that email account, allowing her to access the email and intercept the OTP.

Using this unauthorised access, she logged into the demat account, sold the existing shares without consent, and bought penny stocks to execute the fraud.

The accused was arrested on Tuesday. Her background check found that she had previously been arrested in connection with similar cyber offences, the official added.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)