The Cyberabad cybercrime police on Friday busted a gang that had placed a 60-year-old government pensioner under ‘digital arrest’ and defrauded her of `28.68 lakh. Police arrested five persons, while the main accused Babu is absconding.
Hyderabad:The Cyberabad cybercrime police on Friday busted a gang that had placed a 60-year-old government pensioner under ‘digital arrest’ and defrauded her of `28.68 lakh. Police arrested five persons, while the main accused Babu is absconding.
The arrested accused have been identified as Hamza, Mustafa C.T., Hensily Joseph, V.P.Manikandan, Ashif Ali Peringadakkad, all residents of Kerala.
The victim received a phone call from the number during the caller falsely informed the victim that her Aadhaar ID had been used to open a bank account in Mumbai, which was linked to a money laundering case. The caller told she was a suspect as transactions of `3 crore had been made from the account. The caller threatened the victim with arrest and a `50 lakh fine. Out of fear, the victim transferred `28,68,504.67 to get off the hook. After realising she had been cheated, she then approached the police.
Police said Hamza was a bike mechanic and helped mastermind Babu facilitate fraudulent transactions using bank accounts supplied by Mustafa. Hamza had provided more than 30 bank accounts.
These accounts were obtained from Hensily Joseph and V.P. Manikandan. The funds were withdrawn by Hamza and handed over to Babu via Ashif Ali. The total amount of money withdrawn and handed over to Babu exceeded `2 crore, police said.
