Hyderabad: A gang of five interstate cyber criminals linked to 498 cases was arrested in Telangana’s Adilabad on Friday, August 21.
According to Adilabad Superintendent of Police Akhil Mahajan, the gang had duped victims of Rs 3.5 crore across India. Among all complaints against them, 90 were reported in Telangana alone.
The accused, identified as Abhishek, Ashutosh, Nishu, Ritesh, and Abhinash, created a fake website offering fertiliser franchises and collected personal details of victims across the country through online applications.
They obtained victims’ Aadhaar cards, PAN cards, photographs, and bank account details and subsequently, cheated them by demanding various charges in instalments, including service fees, licence fees, and trade transfer fees.
The gang also operated a fake “Bajaj loan” scheme under which they targeted people searching for loans online, collected their personal and financial details through online applications and went on to demand various fees using their Aadhaar and PAN card details, thereby cheating hundreds of victims.
For instance, in a case registered under the Jainath police station in Adilabad, the accused cheated Akunuru Ganesh of Mandagada village of Boath Mandal to the tune of Rs. 3.85 lakh, falsely promising to provide a franchise in the name of a private fertiliser company.
The cyber criminals contacted Ganesh through phone calls, WhatsApp and email and collected his Aadhaar, PAN card, photograph and other personal details. Initially, they demanded Rs. 50,000 towards franchise registration.
Subsequently, by citing various reasons such as licence charges, franchise registration charges and additional fees, they repeatedly demanded money from him
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