City Cyber Teams Bust International Cyberfraud Network; Arrest 2 for Rs 3.86 Cr Scams

HYDERABAD: In separate cases, city cyber teams arrested two cyberfraudsters with international links for cheating two city-based persons victims of Rs 3.86 crore by offering fraudulent stock investment and via an online game app.

In the first case, the police arrested Goa native Ronak Tanna from Nagpur, who was wanted for cheating 95 persons in 83 frauds in different states. Tanna had cheated a Hyderabad resident of Rs 3,16,34,764 by hosting a fake firm, ‘Unity Stocks’ by which he would invest in the stock market and provide 30 per cent returns.

Announcing this, Hyderabad police commissioner Kothakota Sreenivasa Reddy said the police had served notice to Tanna’s associates Judith Gonsalves  and Sana Mohammed Qureshi of Mumbai, who are at large.

The victim from the city sold her property to raise money to invest in the fake firm, Sreenivasa Reddy said.

He said that Tanna had confessed that he had collected bank account credentials and other details of the victims from Gonsalves and Qureshi. He provided the details to three Dubai-based persons identified as Arjun, Yug and Nitin for a commission of up to Rs 3 lakh.

“We have frozen Rs 20 lakh cash and two laptops, six mobile phones, five cheque books, six SIM cards and 15 debit cards of various banks,” Sreenivasa Reddy said.

In a separate case, city cyber crime police arrested Hitesh Goyal, 36, from Delhi and recovered Rs 1.40 crore cash and technical material from his possession, following a complaint of cheating from a city resident.

Police said Goyal, a native of Haryana, was providing bank accounts and merchant IDs and operating fraudulent transactions for scamsters located in countries the Philippines, the UAE and China who used to cheat people using a gaming website.

Sreenivasa Reddy said Goyal made the city-based victim party with Rs 70 lakh. Police recovered the sum from Goyal. His associate Sanjeev, who is absconding, used to travel to Dubai and Hong Kong to meet up with the scamsters.