Hyderabad men held as money mules in Rs 4.75 crore cyber fraud

Hyderabad: Two people from Hyderabad have been arrested on suspicion of acting as money mules for a cross-border cybercrime syndicate with links to Sri Lanka and Cambodia.

The crime surfaced when cybercrime investigators in Chennai alerted deputy commissioner of police (DCP), Bengaluru Southeast, Sarah Fathima of a possible victim in the city.

Upon investigation, Bengaluru police found that an elderly couple had been accused of money laundering and had been cheated out of Rs 4.75 crore since March in the name of digital arrest.

The couple residing in BTM layout, Bengaluru, thought they were following legal instructions and had even pledged their property papers to pay the fraudsters, reported the Indian Express.

The breakthrough in the case came after Rs 10 lakh of the defrauded amount was traced to a Hyderabad resident’s account. Upon questioning, the man revealed that he had been holding the money on behalf of his landlord, Eshwar Singh.

However, Singh had already flown to Sri Lanka but was arrested upon his return at the Hyderabad airport and was sent to Bengaluru for questioning.

Singh, although he maintained his innocence, said that the money was a legitimate refund from a casino in Sri Lanka. It was found that Singh had visited a casino in Sri Lanka over 33 times in the past few months and had purchased coupons worth Rs 25 lakh. Singh had asked for a refund from the casino upon suffering losses of Rs 15 lakh.

Singh had asked the refund to be sent to a different account, citing irregularities with tax filing, to which the casino had agreed since he was a regular customer.

Investigating officers suspect that the fraudsters who duped the Bengaluru couple asked them to transfer funds to the same account that Singh had provided to the casino. The police are now investigating whether the casino has links to international cybercrime networks, especially with Cambodia, with the investigation revealing roots in the latter country.

Police have also traced funds to Ramnarayan Chowdhary, a Hyderabad-based businessman who owns a departmental store. Police believe that the fraudsters befriended Chowdhary by making purchases at his store and then later used his bank accounts to launder funds from their criminal operations.