61 cyber criminals across 14 States arrested by Hyderabad police

A total of 61 individuals across 14 States were arrested during a month-long operation by the cyber crime wing of the Hyderabad police, leading to the refund of over ₹1 crore to the victims of cyber fraud.

The operations addressed a spectrum of offences.

Trading frauds led the tally with 13 accused, followed closely by 12 arrested for investment frauds, and 11 for offences linked to social media. Insurance fraud accounted for 8 arrests, while three each were held for digital arrest scams and unauthorised transactions. Two individuals were booked for impersonation and two for loan fraud, alongside two linked to OTP-related frauds.

Additionally, five persons were arrested under the Copyright Act and one under the Social Media Tip Line.

During August, the police received 338 NCRP complaints, registering 233 FIRs locally and 90 FIRs at Zonal Cyber Cells.

Tamil Nadu recorded the highest number with 20 arrests, followed by Karnataka with 16, Gujarat with 18, Maharashtra and Delhi with 13 each. West Bengal accounted for 8 arrests, Andhra Pradesh 7, while Uttar Pradesh saw 2.

Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan reported one arrest each.

Alongside the arrests, refunds worth ₹1,01,39,338 were facilitated for victims, broken down across categories of fraud.

Investment frauds accounted for the largest share with ₹52.13 lakh returned, followed by trading frauds with ₹16.23 lakh, loan frauds with ₹15.79 lakh and OTP-related frauds with ₹8.86 lakh. Job fraud victims were refunded ₹3.48 lakh, gaming fraud ₹2.25 lakh, and business fraud ₹2.17 lakh, while digital arrest scams saw refunds of ₹46,000. Seizures included 50 mobile phones, 51 ATM/debit cards, 21 cheque books, 12 passbooks, seven laptops, 82 SIM cards, and three shell company stamps.

Notable cases included a 34-year-old woman from Tarnaka, cheated of over ₹1 crore through a fraudulent trading app operated via Instagram and Telegram between January 2025 and July 2025, and a 73-year-old Hyderabad resident duped of ₹22.5 lakh through a fake investment platform.

In all instances, the police traced intricate networks involving both Indian and international operatives, recovered key digital evidence, and ensured victim refunds.

The Hyderabad City Police urged people to remain vigilant against social media investment schemes, fraudulent messages, and unsolicited digital communications claiming to be from officials. Victims were encouraged to report incidents immediately via the 1930 helpline or cybercrime.gov.in to secure timely relief.