5 Inter-State Cyber Criminals Held in Adilabad, 498 Complaints Linked to Gang
Mahajan said approximately 498 cybercrime complaints have been reported against the accused across the country and that they were suspected to have cheated people to the tune of Rs.3.5 crore
Hyderabad: Adilabad district Superintendent of Police Akhil Mahajan on Friday said that five inter-state cyber criminals, who were involved in cyber frauds across the country, were arrested and sent to judicial remand.
Addressing a press conference at AR headquarters, he said that approximately 498 cybercrime complaints have been reported against the accused across the country and that they were suspected to have cheated people to the tune of Rs.3.5 crore.
In Telangana alone, around 90 cybercrime complaints have been reported against the accused. The accused created a fake website offering fertilizer franchises and collected personal details of victims across the country through online applications.
They obtained victims' Aadhaar cards, PAN cards, photographs and bank account details and subsequently cheated them by demanding various charges in installments, including service fees, licence fees and trade transfer fees.
Similarly, the accused operated a fake “Bajaj Loan” scheme. They targeted people searching online for loans, collected their personal and financial details through online applications and subsequently demanded various fees using their Aadhaar and PAN card details, thereby cheating hundreds of victims.
In a case registered under Jainath police station in Adilabad, the accused cheated Akunuru Ganesh of Mandagada village of Boath Mandal, to the tune of Rs.3.85 lakh falsely promising to provide a franchise in the name of a private fertilizer company.
The cyber criminals contacted Ganesh through phone calls, WhatsApp and email and collected his Aadhaar, PAN card, photograph and other personal details. Initially, they demanded Rs.50,000 towards franchise registration. Subsequently, by citing various reasons such as licence charges, franchise registration charges and additional fees, they repeatedly demanded money from him.
The victim transferred a total amount of Rs.3.85 lakh through various bank accounts, UPI and NEFT transactions. After receiving the money, the accused stopped responding to his calls and WhatsApp messages. The victim subsequently approached the police.
Based on technical evidence and detailed investigation, the police identified and arrested the five accused persons belonging to Bihar. The arrested persons are Abhishek Kumar alias (24), Ashutosh Kumar alias Bablu (33), Nishu Kumar (25), Ritesh Kumar (24), and Abinash Kumar (24).
Mahajan stated that 10 mobile phones and Rs.70,000 cash were seized from the accused. Investigation revealed that the accused invested approximately Rs.8 lakh of the fraud proceeds in bank accounts and stock market shares. The amount invested in the bank accounts and shares has been frozen as per procedure.
