Seven arrested in Malkajgiri cybercrime crackdown; investment and digital arrest frauds detected

The cybercrime wing of the Malkajgiri police arrested seven persons in connection with five cybercrime cases detected between May 17 and May 23, involving three investment fraud cases, one digital arrest fraud case and one unauthorised transaction.

Investigators said the accused were operating as mule account holders and facilitating the transfer of fraud money through multiple bank accounts across different States.

In one of the major cases, cybercrime police arrested Panditi Kranthi Kumar and Vorsu Nagaraju from Suryapet district in connection with a ‘digital arrest’ fraud in which a complainant was cheated of ₹1.66 crore. Police said fraudsters impersonated CBI and police officials, falsely accused the victim of involvement in serious crimes and intimidated him through WhatsApp video calls using fake Supreme Court documents before coercing him into transferring money.

In another case linked to an online investment scam, a Hyderabad resident lost ₹1.16 crore after being lured into investing through a fake trading website promising high returns. Police arrested Komara Narayana Swamy from Gachibowli for providing bank accounts to fraudsters.

Another complainant lost ₹7.16 lakh after fraudsters posing as representatives of an international trading firm convinced him to invest in gold trading and later demanded additional payments in the name of taxes and service charges. Madupa Ramesh from Karimnagar was arrested in the case.

Police also detected a cryptocurrency-linked fraud in which a complainant lost ₹1.68 lakh after being added to a fake Bitcoin trading group on Telegram and persuaded to make payments through QR codes and UPI transactions. Komara Narayana Swamy from Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh was apprehended.

In the unauthorised transactions case, police arrested Amber Srinivas and Vagumari Sambu Venkatesh from Nizamabad district after a complainant reported fraudulent withdrawals amounting to ₹2.17 lakh from his bank account without consent.

Officials said refunds worth ₹23.30 lakh were processed through court orders and returned to victims during the period. The police advised the public to avoid clicking suspicious links, sharing personal banking details and trusting investment schemes promising unusually high returns.