Online inter-State fraud racket gets busted in Chittoor, five nabbed

TIRUPATI: Chittoor I Town police busted an inter-state online fraud racket and arrested five persons of the gang on Wednesday. Police said the cyber criminals were operating from Bihar and Karnataka and targeting online shoppers on the pretext of them having won hefty cash prizes.

According to Chittoor district SP Y. Rishanth Reddy, the police received complaints from 25 victims, who alleged that the online fraudsters had lured them into believe that they had won cash prizes from online shopping and had to deposit some amount to claim their prize.

Following the complaints, the SP constituted special teams under the direct supervision of DSP N. Sudhakar Reddy. The special teams began investigation and during the course received some more information from reliable sources.

Acting on the information, the special police teams nabbed the accused on the outskirts of Chittoor city on Wednesday early morning. They also seized fake gift cards, 30 cellphones, 30 ATM cards, 2 laptops and Rs 1.8 lakh cash and SIM cards among other items from their possession.

The accused were identified as Mukesh Kumar (23), a native of Bihar, B. Sandesh (30), S. Kiran (35), H.S. Kiran (32) and J. Abid (33), all hailing from different parts of Karnataka state. The accused were sent to remand and the police were in the process of seizing their bank accounts to recover the money they swindled from the victims.