IT Staffer Duped of Rs 45 Lakh in Matrimony, Trading Scam

Hyderabad:A 29-year-old IT professional from Kondapur, attempting to find a life partner over a matrimonial website, lost Rs 45.76 lakh to a fraudsters in a months-long operation, Cyberabad police said.

According to the complaint registered on Wednesday, the victim on August 11 contacted a woman whose profile appeared on the matrimony site. She identified herself as Akula Keerthi, claimed to be from Rajahmundry and working in Singapore. She told him she intended to return to India after resigning from her job.

After conversing for about a fortnight, on August 28 she introduced him to “cryptocurrency trading”, claiming she analysed markets and could teach him to make money. She directed him to download a mobile application, provided login credentials, and guided him to make an initial deposit of $500. She also directed him to a WhatsApp number, reportedly claiming to be customer support.

Within days, she claimed her “uncle”, who she said worked in a trading analysis firm, would send trading signals, and pressured him to invest larger amounts for “stable returns”. Using emotional manipulation, including claims of love, future plans, and threats of self-harm, she convinced him to continue investing.

Police said the fraudsters contacted him through multiple new phone numbers, citing “technical issues”, and persuaded him to break his fixed deposit of `10 lakh, take top up loans, and avail credit card loans of another `10 lakh. He also borrowed additional sums from loan apps and invested nearly `15 lakh more.

The woman allegedly told him she had deposited $22,000 into his wallet, promised she would return to India on October 15, and assured that all funds could be withdrawn once the trading account reached $100,000.

By late October, she demanded money for an apartment in Vizag, and another `5 lakh reportedly to repay a friend. She stopped responding soon after. Another woman then contacted him, posing as Keerthi. This made him suspicious.

When he attempted to withdraw funds, the platform demanded Rs 18 lakh as tax. The fraudsters had returned only `1.05 lakh while showing a fake wallet balance of Rs 1.2 crore.

Bunk Manager Loses ₹20,000 to Impersonator

Hyderabad:A petrol bunk manager in Keesara lost `20,000 to a fraudster who impersonated a police sub-inspector and asked him for an "urgent transfer favour". Keesara sub-inspector B. Nagaraju said the fraudsters used the profile picture of a police officer while contacting the victim over WhatsApp.

The message claimed that the police officer needed some money transferred online, and promised it to return it in cash the same evening. The victim transferred `20,000. On not receiving the cash, the victim reached out to the Keesara police.

“He cross-checked the contact on an app before sending the money and it showed 'Keesara SI'. We have for frozen the money and registered a case. We are working on recovering the amount and tracing the accused,” SI Nagaraju said.

Woman seeks help from the stars, loses `85K

Hyderabad:A woman seeking astrological guidance online ended up losing `85,400 to a fraudster posing as an astrologer, Cyberabad cybercrime police said on Thursday.

The victim told police she had come across an Instagram link advertising astrological remedies and was directed to a WhatsApp number. The man who responded claimed he could resolve her personal problems and began demanding money through UPI for rituals and solutions. She transferred `85,400 from her bank account.

Once the payments were made, the fraudster stopped responding. “He used misleading predictions and deceitful claims to extract additional amounts before disappearing,” she said in her complaint.

The woman later filed a complaint with the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal, where her complaint was acknowledged and later transferred to the Cyberabad cybercrime police.

GMR Support Gets Bomb Threat, $10 Mn Demanded

Hyderabad:Another bomb threat email, this time demanding $10 million, was received by the GMR customer support team at the Shamshabad airport on Wednesday evening, triggering a security check.

According to a complaint filed by a shift In-charge with the security and vigilance wing of GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL), the mail was received at 4.23 pm on December 10. The message, sent through the airport’s “Contact Us” portal, claimed: “If you don't give us ten million US dollars by tomorrow, we swear to Brahma that we will blow up the airport and the planes!”

The sender’s location was mentioned as Afghanistan and.

The complaint noteed that the threat was routed through an address spoofed as no.reply@gmrgroup.in. GHIAL security staff forwarded the email along with screenshots and technical headers to the police.

Airport officials said the bomb threat assessment committee (BTAC) examined the contents and categorised it as a non-specific threat, meaning no flight or terminal was directly mentioned.

The Cyberabad cybercrime police have registered a case and begun investigating the origin of the email. “All necessary procedures have been initiated to trace the source of the threat,” an official from the cybercrime wing said.

According to officials, the mail had similarities with several other such hoax threats received over the past year. A Cyberabad cybercrime official said the wing has so far registered roughly 23 bomb-threat cases. While all these emails turned out to be hoaxes, each of them required a full-scale verification.

“These emails create panic and disrupt operations, even when they turn out to be fake. Aviation rules require us to treat every threat as credible until cleared by multiple levels of checking. These cases have now escalated to a level where we need special focus and so, these cases have been transferred to the cybercrime wing,” Shamshabad ACP V. Srikanth Goud told Deccan Chronicle.

He said that easy availability of VPNs, encrypted mail hosts and anonymised routing platforms make it difficult to trace senders. In several earlier cases, threat mails had demanded large sums of money in foreign currency, though no monetary loss was reported. “So far, we have made a couple of arrests, which were either linked to enmity, or attention from the airport. However, a lot of threat mails were non-specific. We registered and transferred at least 10-12 cases in just the past week,” ACP Srikanth said.

4 Parked Cars Gutted, 2 Auto Trolleys Burnt

Hyderabad:Four cars that were parked at SPR Hills ground, Rahamatnagar, were gutted and two auto trolleys were partially burnt in a fire accident on Thursday. Police said that people from nearby localities park their cars at the SPR Hills ground.

On being informed by the residents, Borabanda police along with fire tenders rushed to the ground and extinguished the fire. No one was hurt.

SR Nagar ACP Raghavendra Rao and Borabanda ACP Surender inspected the spot. Police suspect that some persons might have set the vehicles on fire. A special team was going through CCTV footage to attempt to identify the suspects.

Yama counsels motorists

Hyderabad:Begumpet traffic police along with Air Force Station Begumpet on Thursday adopted an awareness programme involving an artist depicting Yamadharma Raju. North zone ACP traffic-1 G. Shankar Raju said the programme was aimed at educating the public on traffic rules, road safety, helmet usage, seatbelt compliance, and stop line discipline.

Chocolates and roses were distributed to motorists who were found adhering to traffic rules. Fines were imposed on traffic rule violators.

Rowdy-Sheeter Externed for Six Months

Hyderabad:Cyberabad police have externed Shaik Amer, a 26-year-old rowdy-sheeter, from the commissionerate limits for six months, citing his repeated involvement in violent crimes and the fear he was creating among residents and witnesses.

Police said Amer was involved in 12 cases across the Cyberabad, Hyderabad and Rachakonda commissionerates, including kidnapping, murder, robbery, extortion, assault, arms offences and NDPS violations.

Cyberabad police commissioner Avinash Mohanty issued a show-cause notice on November 29, directing Amer to appear before the ACP, Rajendranagar, and explain why he should not be externed. Police said he failed to comply. He has now been ordered to leave Cyberabad limits for six months.

Somali nationals rough up cops

Hyderabad:Two allegedly drunk Somali nationals misbehaved with security personnel who were responding to a complaint from a pub in Jubilee Hills on Wednesday night. The police personnel were posted at the Chief Minister’s residence.

Police said Elamin Ali and Bashir, residents of Tolichowki, were quarrelling with others at the pub on Jubilee Hills Road No. 36. When the police responded, the accused tried to attack them. A Jubilee Hills police patrol reached the spot and took the duo into custody.

They have been booked for misbehaving with an on-duty police officer and for creating public nuisance, police said on Thursday.