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The Hyderabad police have arrested two accused in a 'digital arrest' case in which a senior citizen lost Rs 59 lakh. Cybercrime police arrested the accused who had supplied accounts to cheat the retired employee.
Surampudi Chandrasekhar (31) and Emandi Venkat Naveen (25), both residents of Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh have been arrested.
According to police on December 4, the victim received WhatsApp calls from unknown persons impersonating police and government officials. The fraudsters falsely alleged his involvement in human trafficking, overseas job fraud, and money laundering, and sent forged arrest warrants via WhatsApp to intimidate him. Under continuous threats of arrest, the victim transferred Rs. 59,00,300 through RTGS from his Union Bank of India account between December 4 and 6.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Cybercrimes) V Arvind Babu said the accused impersonated as police/government officials, used WhatsApp calls and sent forged arrest warrants to create fear, forced victims to transfer money to multiple bank accounts, used malicious APK files to gain access to internet banking and SMS services, routed funds through shell firm accounts, converted them into cryptocurrency (USDT), and withdrew money via Binance P2P transactions into personal accounts.
The accused are part of an interstate cyber fraud racket. They procured and shared bank accounts for routing cheated funds. So far 15 current bank accounts have been facilitated to the prime accused. They received proceeds in cryptocurrency, later converted to Indian rupees. They assisted the prime accused by providing accounts and technical access.
The accused are involved in 65 cyber fraud cases nationwide, including Karnataka, Maharashtra, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and other states. The amount involved in these cases is Rs 8 crore.
Five of the cases related to Telangana – two each in Hyderabad and Cyberabad and one in Sangareddy.
The arrested accused have been remanded to judicial custody, and further investigation is in progress.