TGCSB arrests two in Rs 4.70 crore WhatsApp impersonation fraud

The Telangana Cyber Security Bureau arrested two men for allegedly facilitating a Rs 4.70 crore cyber fraud in which fraudsters impersonated a company's Managing Director through a fake WhatsApp profile. Police said the accused supplied mule bank accounts used in the scam.

HYDERABAD: The Telangana Cyber Security Bureau (TGCSB) has arrested two persons for allegedly facilitating a cyber fraud in which a company was duped of Rs 4.70 crore after fraudsters impersonated its Managing Director through a fake WhatsApp profile.

According to the TGCSB, an employee of the company received WhatsApp messages from a profile displaying the name and photograph of the company’s Managing Director.

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Believing the messages to be genuine, the complainant transferred Rs 4.70 crore to bank accounts specified by the fraudsters.

Technical analysis and verification of bank transactions led investigators to the arrest of the two suspects — Dosapati Krishna Sai of Sathupally in Khammam district and Mandavally Shiva Nagaraju, a resident of Kothapet in Hyderabad, a native of Sathupally.

The police said the suspects had allegedly procured and supplied current bank accounts to cyber fraudsters in return for commission. They are suspected of having facilitated the operation of mule accounts and shared commissions amounting to around Rs 4 lakh.

The investigation revealed that Rs 1.80 crore of the defrauded amount was credited to a bank account operated by Shiva Nagaraju. Police alleged that the account had been arranged and provided to the cyber fraudsters by Krishna Sai.

Further scrutiny of the account showed suspicious credit transactions exceeding Rs 2.49 crore. The account was also found to be linked to multiple cybercrime complaints registered in Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu, officials said.

The suspects were produced before a court and remanded to judicial custody. Efforts are under way to trace the remaining absconding suspects and recover the remaining proceeds of the crime.