Student's life as a hacker exposed by eBay tip-off

T Bharathwaj Purohit (TOI Photo)

CHENNAI (timesofindia.indiatimes) -- Police on Tuesday arrested a college student for purchasing electronic goods online using credit card details of card holders from across the world.

T Bharathwaj Purohit (20), a resident of MKB Nagar and a member of a community of hackers, had been buying electronic goods online using other people’s credit cards since April. Police recovered an electric guitar, a printer, an LCD TV, a digital camera, a weighing scale, a mobile and a laptop all worth Rs three lakh, and Rs 38,500 in cash from him.

Purohit met Charu Sharma of Mumbai and Hathi Gogaiyan of Ahmedabad online a few months ago. They introduced him to an online hackers’ community on the net and gave him credit card details to make purchases.

“Following Sharma and Gogaiyan’s advice, Purohit tried to book an expensive mobile and i-pod using the data they provided. To his surprise, he received the items within a week. He also couriered the valuables to them as gifts. He started buying more goods online on ‘eBay’, an online auction website,” deputy commissioner of police B Vijayakumari said.

Sharma and Gogaiyan had given Purohit details of US credit card holders. Following complaints from an eBay investigation officer, the city police arrested Purohit. He had made his purchases from his personal computer. The police, with the help of the cyber crime wing, tracked down his IP address. Preliminary inquires revealed that this group of hackers got bank accounts and credit card details of people for a price.

“We have received information that the Mumbai police cornered Sharma and Gogaiyan a few days ago for another credit card cheating case in Mumbai. We have taken Purohit into custody to get more details,” a senior police officer said.

Police booked Purohit under several sections of the IPC, including 420 (cheating). He was remanded in judicial custody after being produced before the magistrate court on Tuesday.