Over Rs 22 crore siphoned from TN govt bank accounts, cyber fraud syndicate suspected

Chennai: An online fraud involving the siphoning of Rs 22.10 crore from bank accounts in the state has come to light, police said on Tuesday.

Currently, efforts are underway to track the transactions and also investigate the involvement of local bank handlers or compromised credentials used to execute the unauthorised transfers, they said.

The police suspect the involvement of an international cybercrime syndicate from Nigeria.

According to sources, the Chennai Central Crime Branch (CCB) registered a case and initiated a probe into the cyber fraud involving the bank accounts maintained by the Tamil Nadu Rural Development Department.

Preliminary findings revealed that Rs 14 crore was transferred from the Mandapam Panchayat Union in Ramanathapuram district, Rs 3.10 crore from Nagapattinam Panchayat Union and Rs 5 crore from Dharapuram Panchayat Union in Tiruppur district.

Police suspect unauthorised access to the online financial transaction portal to divert the money to certain bank accounts.

BJP leader Vinoj P Selvam claimed that this incident raised yet another set of serious questions about the Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay-led TVK government's administrative oversight, accountability and preparedness.

"These are funds meant for rural development, essential services and public welfare. Money entrusted to the government for the benefit of ordinary citizens. How did cybercriminals allegedly penetrate government payment systems? How were transactions worth crores executed? Where were the security checks, financial controls and monitoring mechanisms?" Selvam said on X today.

Taking a dig at the ruling TVK, he said, "Every political party in the world has an IT wing. But Tamil Nadu seems to have witnessed something extraordinary. For the first time, an actor's fan club and its social media army have gone from trending hashtags to running a state government! Unfortunately, managing hashtags and managing a state are two very different things."

He said Tamil Nadu needed transparent answers, stronger institutions and a government that can demonstrate its ability to safeguard public funds.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Mathrubhumi and is published from a syndicated feed.)