22-Year-Old Nabbed For Role in Vizag Cyber Scam
The accused was remanded to 15 days’ judicial custody, and his bank accounts and mobile phones were seized
Visakhapatnam: The Visakhapatnam Cyber Crime Police have arrested a 22-year-old man for his role in facilitating a sophisticated “digital arrest” scam that cheated a retired government employee of more than `1.6 crore.
The victim, Nukala Sitharamanjaneyulu (77), received calls from persons posing as representatives of Blue Dart courier and the Mumbai Police. The fraudsters threatened him, claiming illegal transactions had been carried out in his name and that he was under CBI investigation.
Under the guise of a “digital arrest”, the scammers forced the elderly man to transfer large sums of money to several bank accounts, saying it was part of the probe. In this manner, he was cheated of `1,60,54,000.
Following a complaint, cyber crime police traced the movement of funds through multiple accounts and found that part of the amount had been credited to the account of Rapelli Abhinav (22), a resident of Ramagundam in Karimnagar district of Telangana.
Using technical analysis, police tracked and arrested Abhinav in Ramagundam. During questioning, he admitted to providing his bank account to cybercriminals in return for a commission and to withdrawing the money and handing it over to them.
Police said his account had been used in cybercrime cases registered in several States. The accused was remanded to 15 days’ judicial custody, and his bank accounts and mobile phones were seized.