Hyderabad: The Telangana police on Thursday, August 29, arrested an 8-member gang for allegedly running a large-scale loan frauds targetting Telugu speakers using the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY) and Dhani loan schemes. The accused were operating from from Wanaparthy.
The arrested are identified as Varthiyavath Narsingh (32) of Wanaparthy, Rathlavath Ramesh (32) of Nagarkurnool, Pothulapally Kurumurthy (28) of Wanaparthy, Eslavath Ramulu aka Babu (32) of Wanaparthy, Kothapally Umesh (25) of Ananthapur, Boya Veeresh (24) Ananthapur, Eslavath Suresh aka Balu(18) of Wanaparthy and Varthiyavath Praveen (18) of Wanaparthy.
The investigations led to the arrest of the gang following a complaint lodged on January 21, 2024, by a resident of Kothakota town who applied for a PM Viswakarma community loan of Rs 1,00,000 on January 11, 2024.
According to the Telangana police, he applied for the loan at a Mee Seva centre in Kothakota town. On the same day he received Whatsapp messages from an unknown number asking him to pay a fee to get the loan sanctioned. In response he paid a total of Rs 24,500 in three instalments. When the victim was asked to pay an additional amount of Rs 9000, he refused.
The unknown number was unavailable to the victim after that. Realising that he has been duped, the victim lodged a complaint with the cyber cell via the 1930 helpline.
The cybercrime police detected numerous complaints on similar grounds from Telangana and other states leading to the identification of the gang who were primarily targetting Telugu-speaking individuals. The arrests led to the seizure of 26 mobile phones, and an analysis of these phones revealed that the accused are involved in 55 FIRs.
The Police appealed public to be aware of unsolicited calls offering loans and never send money towards approval of any loans. If one feels that they have fallen prey to fraud, or any other cyber crime, immediately report it at 1930 or www.cybercrime.gov.in
Follow on Twitter | Posted by Parameswaran Valeri | 
