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Hyderabad: 5 Arrested in Rs 2.06 Cr Stock Trading Fraud

Hyderabad: The City Cybercrime Unit (CCCU) on Wednesday arrested a gang of five people, including a sales manager of a private bank, for allegedly helping cyber fraud and operate mule accounts involving in a Rs 2.06 crore stock trading scam.

The arrested accused were identified as Reddy Praveen, a native of West Godavari district, Kata Srinivasa Rao sales manager at Kotak Mahindra Bank (JNTU) native of Guntur district, Mohammed Ismail travel business operator resident of Shalibanda, Mohammed Junaid crypto trader of Bahadurpura and Maganti Jaya Kiran, a ready-mix concrete businessman and a native of Krishna district.

“During investigation, the accused confessed that they orchestrated the fraud by utilising multiple mule bank accounts to withdraw fraudulent amounts, converting the funds into crypto currency, and channeling the proceeds to Dubai-based cyber fraudsters through Hawala networks,” Hyderabad police commissioner C.V. Anand in a press meet disclosed.

“Our CCCU on December 12 last year acted after they received a complaint from the victim, reported that he was trapped by the fraudsters on the pretext of investment with high returns and lured him into investing through a fake trading platform, ‘Anisha App’, Anand briefed.

Anand further disclosed that the fraud began with messages convincing the victim to join a WhatsApp group, “VIP H8-5,” where members shared fabricated success stories of stock trading profits pertaining to Anisha App. “Trusting these representations, the victim opened an account with the app and made incremental investments. Initially, the victim invested Rs 5 lakh, which appeared to yield high returns and encouraged by the apparent profits, he increased his investments to Rs 27,5 lakh. Later, he was pressurised to subscribe to IPOs and invest into more funds, under threats that his prior investments would be frozen. By December 16, the victim had invested Rs 1,62,31,650 and additional deposits were demanded under the pretext of account abnormalities,” the police commissioner said.

Disclosing the details, Anand said, “These manipulative tactics culminated in a total loss of over Rs 2.06 crore. Our CCCU teams during investigation found that Maganti Jaya Kiran opened a mule account in Kotak Mahindra Bank using his credentials and handed over the cheque book, ATM card to his associate Reddy Praveen and Kata Srinivas in exchange for a commission, allowing fraudulent transactions through his account, serving as the initial point for fund movement.

“Praveen confessed of recruiting unemployed youth and coerced them into opening bank accounts by offering them lucrative commissions. Ismail, acted as the key facilitator for transferring cash to Dubai through informal Hawala channels collecting funds from accused Junaid and arranged for their delivery to the higher-level operatives operating abroad,” the commissioner further said.

Ismail played a pivotal role in ensuring funds reaching the masterminds operating the fake investment application in Dubai while accused Junaid converted cash received from Praveen and Srinivas into crypto currency, specifically USDT (Tether), to obscure the money trail.

Police seized cash of Rs 47, 50,000, crypto currency value worth of Rs 40,00,000, five mobile phones, two laptops, two cash counting machines 33 cheque books of different banks, 26 debit cards and other indiscriminate property from their possession.

Advisory:

Public are cautioned not to believe unknown persons who introduce themselves over social media platforms like Telegram, Whats App, Instagram and Facebook offering them to invest in stock market for getting high returns.

( Source : Deccan Chronicle )
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