Telangana Police Solve Rs 10 crore Cyber Fraud Case, arrest 2

Hyderabad: A special team of Telangana Cyber Security Bureau (TGCSB), arrested two cyber criminals involved in a complex digital fraud of Rs 10.61 crore in Bengaluru and brought them back to Hyderabad on Tuesday. The arrested accused were identified as Vinay Kumar, 23, and Maruthi, 28.

During interrogation, the accused reportedly confessed that they were joint holders of a current account, into which Rs 4. 62 crore was transferred from the victim’s account.
The TGSCB was acting on a complaint by a local resident on September 10 stating that he was contacted by individuals posing as Mumbai police who told him that his bank account was being used for money-laundering activities, Shikha Goel, director TGCSB said. The duo even sent fake letters from the Enforcement Directorate and income-tax department, demanding the victim’s financial details, including properties, deposits, shares and salary, she said.

“The fraudsters claimed that the victim could face three to seven years of imprisonment. Under the pretext of conducting an investigation, they coerced the victim into cooperating with them through video calls. They forced the victim to transfer `10.61 crore into their accounts. All through, the victim was made to believe that he was cooperating with the law enforcement agencies,” Goel said. During the operation, police seized two mobile phones used to commission the crime.

The modus operandi of the fraudsters was to open ‘mule’ bank accounts with the documents of other people in exchange for a commission. The duo coerced their victims to pay money to these accounts, the TGSCB director said.