The Hyberabad cybercrime police have arrested four individuals from Andhra Pradesh for allegedly providing bank accounts that were used to carry out two major cyber frauds, cheating victims of a total of rS3.46 crore.
In the first case, a victim was duped of rS2,90,04,585 after fraudsters posing as stock market experts persuaded him to join a WhatsApp group. The scammers encouraged him to invest through a fake trading application, falsely claiming it to be a Foreign Institutional Investor (FII) platform registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
To gain the victim’s trust, the accused displayed manipulated profits and fake IPO allotments. The fraud came to light when the victim’s attempts to withdraw funds were blocked and he was asked to make additional payments. Following a complaint, police arrested Shivakanth Raju Datla and Surya Bhagavan Morapaka, both residents of Andhra Pradesh, for allegedly supplying bank accounts used to route the defrauded money in exchange for commission.
In the second incident, a 74-year-old woman was subjected to a “digital arrest” scam and cheated of RS56.50 lakh. Fraudsters impersonating telecom officials threatened her by claiming that her Aadhaar card was linked to serious crimes such as money laundering and human trafficking. She was later connected to individuals posing as Mumbai police officers and was shown forged Reserve Bank of India documents through WhatsApp video calls.
Police arrested Kesana Manikya Rao and Kesana Laxmi Nandini, both from Andhra Pradesh, for allegedly providing bank accounts used to siphon off the money in this case.
Overall, between January 16 and January 22, Cyberabad cybercrime police detected 14 cases and arrested 23 persons across multiple states. These included six trading fraud cases (11 arrests), three digital arrest cases (five arrests), two part-time job fraud cases (three arrests), one job fraud case (two arrests), and two loan fraud cases (two arrests).
During the same period, courts issued 354 refund orders in 70 cases, resulting in the recovery and return of Rs1.06 crore to victims.
