Three held for cyber fraud in Hyderabad; scam worth Rs 2 cr exposed

Hyderabad: The Cybercrime unit has arrested three persons in separate cases of cyber fraud in Hyderabad worth Rs 2 crore.

The accused belong to Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. In the first case two accused were involved in an insurance fraud worth Rs 4.3 lakh. In the second case, a businessman was arrested in connection with an online trading scam.

According to the cybercrime police, Devash Rastogi and Jitendra Agarwal, both residents of Gaziabad were arrested for duping a 58-year-old man from Hyderabad. The victim received calls from fraudsters posing as officials of the Integrated Grievance Management Systems (IGMS) Department promising reimbursement of Rs 63,45,918 from various insurance companies.

To release the amount, the victim was asked to pay a so-called processing fee of 5 per cent amounting to over 3.17 lakhs. Believing the false assurances, the victim made payments of Rs 4.02,329 lakhs to bank accounts provided by the accused.

According to reports, the accused were part of a larger cybercrime network and supplied bank accounts for fraudulent activities. They made calls to the victims and made investment offers promising high returns. When asked about the returns, the accused avoided calls.

Three cheque books were seized from them.

Trading scam

In the second case, the accused, identified as Vineet Chaddha, from Haryana, was arrested in connection with an online trading scam. A 62-year-old resident fell prey to the scam when he came across an advertisement about online trading on Facebook and clicked on the link. The victim was directed to a trading platform on a fake website.

The victim downloaded an app and made a large investment, the fraudster showed profits to gain trust. As the profits were growing, the victim ended up investing Rs 2.02 crore into various bank accounts linked to the scam.

As the victim tried to withdraw, the accused began demanding additional taxes and pressurised the victim. According to the Police, Chaddha received Rs 40 lakh in his bank account. This amount was diverted to his acomplices through shell companies. Six mobi phnes , a laptop and a chequebok were seized from Chaddha.