Telangana: Massive cyber fraud involving Rs 4.23 crore unearthed, five held

The cyber crime syndicate used an elaborate system to transfer money from the victim to more than 200 bank accounts and the money swindled was a staggering Rs 4.23,65,000.

Jagtial: In a major breakthrough, Telangana police busted a cyber crime racket with the arrest of five persons from Kerala and exposed an intricate network of money transfers spanning over three to four States in India.

The cyber crime syndicate used an elaborate system to transfer money from the victim to more than 200 bank accounts and the money swindled was a staggering Rs 4.23,65,000 and the victim happened to be Basetti Sankaraiah from Jagtial.

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The massive fraud was perpetrated on Sankaraiah in November last year, when the unsuspecting victim received a call from one Sarika Varma, purportedly from Mumbai. Sarika Varma informed Sankaraiah that his aadhaar card number was misued in Mumbai and that it was linked to a money laundering case in Mumbai which was being investigated by the law enforcement agencies.

Sankaraiah was made to disclose his bank details and the money he had and later convinced to transfer Rs 3,23,65,000 from his account to different accounts, with the promise that the entire amount would be transferred back to him once the probe was completed, Jagtial SP Sunpreet Singh told newsmen here on Saturday.

Sankaraiah was also warned not to disclose any details of the purported Mumbai case and the transfer of money. The calls from the cyber cheaters continued and subsequently, he was made to part with another crore making the total he lost to Rs 4,23,65,000.

The fraudsters who forced the victim to share the screenshot of his laptop noticed that he had some 20 year old shares and ordered him to sell and send them money.

Sankaraiah, who grew suspicious, questioned them as to how his two decade old shares were connected to the ongoing investigation and at that point, the fraudsters stopped calling or receiving calls from him. It was then, Sankaraiah approached the police and a case was registered on November 27, 2023.

Considering the enormity of the fraud, Sunpreet Singh said, a special team headed by DSP Ranga Reddy, CI Suresh Babu, SI Shyam Raj and constables Chandasekhar, Mahesh and Santosh. The special team found that Rs 15 lakh was credited to an account held by Skyline Travels in Kerala.

The team rushed to Kerala and arrested the account holder Shaukat Ali, who disclosed that he and another person Basith came into contact with one Sanjay on Telegram app. Sanjay, the team was told, had lured them to share their account details and promised part of money and were paid Rs three lakh after Sankaraiah transferred Rs 15 lakh to them.

Using the similar modus operandi, LK Associated in Jabalpur also received Rs 15 lakh from the victim and the account holders Ajmal and Saheb were paid Rs one lakh after they received Rs 15 lakh which was transferred to one Qumaruddin and Ashik. The police team took Qumaruddin into custody. The investigators also found that LK Associates had sent Rs 10 lakh to one Siddiqui also.

Ultimately, the team arrested the five receipients of money – Shaukat Ali, Basith, Ajmal, Qumaruddin and Siddique. The team also traced the money trail to Arunachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh also.

The district SP appreciated the efforts of the special team in exposing the massive cyber fraud. Further investigations are on.