Bengaluru: Fraudsters allegedly exploited vulnerabilities in an app-based logistics and tech-enabled transportation startup, using a sophisticated combination of geo-spoofing and fake orders placed by fictitious identities, and cheated it of Rs 90 lakh.
The company at the receiving end was Bengaluru-based Porter, and those who committed the fraud were four of its own drivers. The fraud was committed for eight months till it was detected in July.
Acting on a complaint lodged by SmartShift Logistics Solutions Private Limited which operates Porter, South East CEN Crime police recently arrested drivers Shreyas TL, 29, from Hassan district; Kaushik KS, 26, from KG Nagar in Bengaluru; Ranganath PR, 26, from Mandya; and Anand Kumar, 30, from Maddur.
The scam came to light after an internal investigation into intra-city logistics revealed the fraudulent scheme involving fake customer orders/driver identities, and geo-spoofing (falsifying one’s location in the digital space by modifying the GPS or IP address).
Police said Kaushik, who earlier worked with taxi aggregators, became curious about online reimbursement of payments when trips got cancelled. He, along with Shreyas and others, decided to manipulate the system to siphon off funds.