LB Nagar man held for stealing bank details of customers, luring them to get loans

Hyderabad: The Rachakonda police on 25 March arrested a man for stealing the bank details of custumers and luring them to take loans.

The police arrested Kothapally Ashok, a resident of LB Nagar, after receiving a complaint from the bank that said people were receiving calls from HDFC bank officials checking for loan requirements. However, when the bank officials checked their records they found that no such calls were being made by the bank. The callers were impersonating bank officials and causing inconvenience to the customers.

The police said the callers had secured personal and financial details, including the mobile numbers, of bank customers illegally and they also had acquired sensitive information about the customers.

The accused, Ashok, had worked as a personal loan executive at the HDFC's Gaddiannaram branch from 2007 to 2018. In 2017, Ashok fraudulently took printouts of HDFC customers without the knowledge of the bank which amounts to stealing of valuable data.

In 2020, Ashok opened an office under the name Tarangini Associates at LB Nagar. The firm was established to provide assistance in obtaining bank loans. He hired five telecallers and gave them SIM cards. Their job was to call the customers from the list of phone numbers obtained fraudulently from the bank. They then told the customers they were from the HDFC bank and persuaded them to apply for a loan online. Ashok received a commission for the same.

Ashok connived with K. Suresh, the direct sales associate of HDFC bank, and made a deal to use his ID and apply for bank approvals, the police explained. The Rachakonda cops booked Ashok under various sections of the IPC and IT Act and arrested him.