Hyderabad: Cyber Cops Arrest Two Fraudsters

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad cybercrime police arrested two cyber fraudsters in separate cases involving investment and job scams, exposing elaborate methods used to dupe vulnerable victims.

In the first case, police apprehended Bobbari Srinivasa Rao from Visakhapatnam in connection with an IPO allotment fraud worth `43 lakh. A 63-year-old victim was duped after receiving a WhatsApp message from a fake entity, which he believed to be genuine. He invested more than Rs 43 lakh over 20 days between July and August 2025.

The fraudsters lured him with fake dashboards showing profits and even allotted discounted shares under the guise of the qualified institutional placement (QIP) quota. The victim kept transferring money until he realised the firm had no connection with a bank that it had claimed.

Police teams identified Srinivasa Rao as an account holder and account supplier already involved in 19 cases across India, including two in Telangana. SIM cards, mobile phones, passbooks, debit cards, and cheque books were seized from his possession.

In the second case, police arrested Ponnaganti Tej Kumar from Krishna district in Andhra Pradesh for impersonating an HR executive from Accenture in a job fraud case.

He cheated a 23-year-old Hyderabad student of Rs 1.7 lakh after promising him a job with a salary package of Rs 6.5 lakh per annum. The accused created a spoofed email ID resembling the genuine company domain and maintained communication via WhatsApp. After receiving payments in multiple instalments between July 27 and 31, he became unresponsive.

Police said Tej Kumar is a habitual offender with multiple cases registered across tri-commissionerates under fraud and IT Act violations. One mobile phone was seized from him.

Honeytrap and Bank Fraud Cases Registered in Hyderabad

Cybercrime police warned citizens against downloading unverified apps, sharing OTPs, or transferring money to unknown UPI IDs, following the arrest of two persons involved in honeytrap extortion and unauthorised bank account hacking.

A 25-year-old man from Asifnagar fell victim to a sextortion scam. He received a video call from an unknown woman who displayed obscene visuals and secretly recorded him.

Soon after, fraudsters posing as a senior police officer and a YouTube official blackmailed him, threatening to circulate the video unless he paid money. Out of fear, the victim initially transferred Rs 8,500, but was repeatedly extorted through further payments of Rs 8,000, Rs 17,000, Rs 29,500, and Rs 27,500, along with smaller amounts, amounting to a total loss of Rs 1 lakh.

In another case, a 41-year-old Secunderabad resident lost Rs 12.75 lakh in an APK link scam.

The victim reported that a fraudulent loan amount was credited into his bank account without authorisation, and was quickly siphoned off through multiple transactions, including four debits of Rs 1.8 lakh each, along with his own Rs 1.8 lakh balance.

A day earlier, he had alerted his bank about suspicious OTPs and fake calls from fraudsters posing as executives. Officials suspect the victim’s banking credentials were compromised after installing a malicious APK on his phone.

ED attaches assets of Mahesh Bank ex-CEO’s son

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) provisionally attached two immovable properties worth Rs 1.1 crore in Adibatla, Rangareddy district, in connection with its money laundering probe against former officials of AP Mahesh Cooperative Urban Bank.

The properties are held in the name of Rohit Asawa, son of Umesh Chand Asawa, the bank’s former managing director and CEO. The attachment was made under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.

The ED probe stemmed from two FIRs lodged at Banjara Hills police station against senior bank officials, including then chairman Ramesh Kumar Bung, then senior vice-chairman Puroshatamdas Mandhana, and others. They were accused of sanctioning loans to ineligible borrowers against fake or non-existent collateral, allegedly charging commissions from beneficiaries.

According to the ED, during his tenure, Umesh Chand Asawa sanctioned loans to Biomax Fuels Ltd and related firms by accepting third-party properties under litigation as collateral. He allegedly collected commissions ranging from 2-4 per cent of the loan amount, totalling Rs 1.1 crore, from the company’s MD as quid pro quo.

Investigators said the cash was then invested in purchasing two properties in Rohit Asawa’s name. Though registered at Rs 26.7 lakh, the market value exceeded Rs 1.5 crore. The ED alleged clandestine cash payments were intermixed with legitimate funds routed through banking channels to conceal proceeds of crime. Further investigation is under way.