AP man held for cheating Indian students in USA promising 10% discount on semester fees

Hyderabad: Cyber Crime Police arrested a person accused of cheating Indian students studying overseas in the USA on the pretext of offering a 10 per cent discount on their university semester fee.

The accused has been identified as Kanolla Ashok Kumar (28) from Andhra Pradesh.

Case details

The police received a complaint from a resident of Trimulgherry in Hyderabad that he had been cheated of Rs 4,38,599 (more than Rs 4 lakhs) by persons who promised to provide a 10 per cent discount on his son’s semester fee at the University of West Florida, USA.

Scammers would try to pay on your behalf

As per the police investigation so far, Kanolla Ashok Kumar and his friends Tarun, a resident of the USA, and Waquar from New Delhi, used to work in consultancy agencies that send students overseas for studies. Using their access to students’ databases, they contacted Indian students studying at various universities in the USA, with the intention to cheat them.

On the pretext of offering a 10 per cent discount on the university semester fee, they would collect the fee amount from the victim into their bank accounts and pay the university fee using their credit/debit bank cards.

After payment, the status of the semester fee payment will be shown as paid. However, after some days, they would reverse the payment and the fee payment status would go back to ‘not paid’. In this way, they would pocket the semester fee sent to them for payment.

Cyber Crime Police in Hyderabad registered a complaint under sections 66(C), (D) ITA Act-2008, 419 and 420 IPC began an investigation.