Cyber fraud accused who cheated actor Ali arrested by Cyberabad police

Hyderabad: A cyber fraudster who cheated Tollywood actor Ali and a television channel under the guise of providing vaccination against Covid-19 has been arrested by the Cyberabad cybercrime police. The accused identified as Tikkisetti Nagendra Babu (27) is a chef working in a five-star hotel in Chennai.

According to the police, Babu cheated several high-profile persons promising to provide Covid-19 vaccines.

Assistant commissioner of police K. Balakrishna, Cyberabad Cybercrime Cell, said, "He used to collect mobile numbers of the persons he would target. Later, he used to contact them over phone and assure them to provide vaccination. He used to make them believe that he was from the health department."

Falling prey to his fraud, many victims transferred lakhs of rupees as advance amount for the vaccine. As per the police records, he started committing crimes in 2016. The first case was booked in Vijayawada, reportedly his hometown. Nagendra Babu used to trick victims under the guise of providing them with fancy phone numbers and faces three cases on this count.

Taking advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic, he hatched a plan to cheat the public by promising Covid-19 vaccination. Likewise, he reportedly took Rs. 1 lakh from comedian Ali and another Rs. 1 lakh from film producer Suresh Babu.

In another case, he cheated a television channel making the same assurance. He impersonated as a close associate of minister K.T. Rama Rao and siphoned off Rs. 1.5 lakh from the television channel representative and later switched off his mobile. After realising that they were cheated, they approached Cyberabad Cyber Crime police and lodged a complaint.

In the list of his victims, there is also a young producer. The accused allegedly cheated the producer of Rs. 3.5 lakh by promising him a media award. The victim lodged a complaint with Raidurgam police of Cyberabad commissionerate.

The police arrested the accused and further investigation is underway. Meanwhile, the police urged the public not to believe in these types of fake assurances and become a victim of cyber fraud. They appealed to confirm whether it was legitimate or fake before transferring any amount for any reason.