Cyberabad police arrest four in nationwide crackdown, initiate refund of nearly ₹22 lakh

The cybercrime wing of the Cyberabad police arrested four suspects operating different financial rackets across multiple States after detecting three cases between November 6 and 11.

Officers said three arrests were linked to trading scams, while one involved a smishing (SMS phishing) operation. Five mobile phones, a smartwatch, SIM cards and other digital devices were seized during the raids.

Police also secured 42 refund orders in 26 cases, amounting to ₹21,98,753, which will be returned to victims following court directions.

Among the major cases was the cheating of a private employee who lost ₹21,93,300 in a fake trading scam run through Telegram and WhatsApp groups. The victim was approached by a woman identifying herself as Ben Sasha, who lured him into using a fraudulent trading app and encouraged him to make trial trades that showed artificially inflated profits. Once he gained confidence, scammers guided him to deposit money into bank accounts they claimed were linked to a foreign exchange trading platform.

The victim initially received two small withdrawals of ₹5,000, which were used to build trust. He was then persuaded to invest larger amounts and was shown fictitious profits running into crores. When he attempted to withdraw funds, he was pressured to pay a series of charges, including a 30% tax, security deposit and conversion fee. Later, he was told his CIBIL score was inadequate and was asked to transfer an additional ₹15 lakh. When he questioned these demands, the suspects deleted his trading account and chat history, leaving him with a virtual balance that never existed.

Investigators confirmed he had transferred ₹21,93,300 from his bank accounts into several beneficiary accounts. A transaction of ₹90,000 led officers to two suspects, identified as Thummaluru Sudhakar Reddy and Thummaluru Raghunatha Reddy, who allegedly provided bank accounts used in the scam. They were arrested based on technical evidence and field verification.

Cyberabad police urged people not to trust unverified investment groups on WhatsApp or Telegram, and to avoid downloading trading apps shared by unknown individuals. Officers advised citizens to verify platforms on SEBI’s website and report suspicious activity immediately to 1930 or the national cybercrime portal.