Cyberabad police nab nine in Rs 10 crore cyber fraud targeting Australians

Cyberabad police arrested nine people who hacked Australian bank accounts using a Madhapur call centre. Victims were tricked with fake pop-ups and emails, and money was transferred to India via hawala and cryptocurrency. Computers, phones, and a vehicle were seized

Hyderabad: The Cyberabad police caught nine persons who duped Australian citizens to the tune of around Rs 10 crore by hacking into the bank accounts and transferring the funds.

The arrested are Yepuri Ganesh, Marampudu Chenna Keshava, Moumita Mondal, Eajaz Ahmed, Sambit Roy, Shannik Banerjee, Moumita Mallick, Silpi Samadder and Kunal Singh.

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According to the police, Ganesh and Keshava, who are natives of Khammam district in Telangana, rented a flat in a building in Madhapur and set up an office named RIDGE IT Solutions in 2024.

The duo hired seven persons to work as call centre executives. With the help of some persons in Australia the gang collected bank accounts of Indian students staying in the country. The gang also sourced details such as email accounts of Australian citizens from some individuals.

“The gang sent fake pop-ups/emails to Australian citizens, falsely claiming that their computer had been compromised and asked them to contact a call centre to resolve the issue. When the victim called over the phone number, the executives convinced the victims to allow them to have access to their computers using ‘anydesk app’. After gaining access to the computers, the fraudsters took control of the online banking accounts of the victims. The scammers then transferred the money from the victims bank accounts into some other bank accounts which was then transferred through hawala or crypto currency, to India,” said YVS Sudheendra, DCP (cyber crimes) Cyberabad.

The police came across details of 45 Australian bank accounts during the raid. The police seized 12 HP computers, 2 routers, a Thar vehicle, 21 mobile phones and other items from the gang.