Friend Turns Scamster, Cheats Senior Citizen of Rs 5L
The case came to light after a complaint from 66‑year‑old V. Bharathi, a resident of Ayyappa Society, Madhapur.
Hyderabad: Cyberabad cybercrime sleuths busted a smishing — SMS phishing — fraud and arrested a 37‑year‑old job seeker for cheating a senior citizen of ₹5 lakh. DCP T. Sai Manohar said the accused, Narender of Vijayawada, was arrested based on technical evidence and investigation. A case was registered at the cybercrime police station under the BNS and the IT Act.
The case came to light after a complaint from 66‑year‑old V. Bharathi, a resident of Ayyappa Society, Madhapur. She noticed unauthorised transactions from her Union Bank of India savings account on May 9 and May 11, 2026. She told police she had neither used internet or mobile banking services nor shared any OTPs, passwords or received authorisation calls before the transactions.
On checking her account, she found ₹5 lakh had been fraudulently debited. Investigation revealed Narender had gained the trust of the victim’s family by maintaining close acquaintance and frequently visiting their residence. Exploiting the family’s confidence and the victim’s limited knowledge of digital banking, he allegedly installed banking applications on her mobile phone without explaining their purpose. He later accessed her account and transferred the funds to online gaming applications and accounts.
Using human intelligence, mobile location tracking, call detail records and technical analysis, police identified and apprehended the accused. The stolen amount was recovered.
Cyberabad police advised citizens, particularly senior citizens, not to allow others to access their mobile phones for banking purposes and urged immediate reporting of suspicious transactions or cyber frauds to the National Cyber Crime Helpline 1930.
