Two more persons held in Rs 175 crore cyber fraud: PSU bank manager, gym trainer

Hyderabad: Two more persons, including a branch manager of a PSU bank and a gym trainer, were on Wednesday arrested in connection with a Rs 175 crore scam wherein transactions pertaining to cyber fraud was done through six bank accounts here, the Telangana Cyber Security Bureau said.

The Telangana Cyber Security Bureau had earlier arrested two persons here for their alleged involvement in the scam, and with the arrest of the bank manager and gym trainer, so far four accused have been arrested in the case.

The branch manager of the bank at Shamsheergunj colluded with fraudsters, facilitating the opening of current bank accounts, aiding in the withdrawal of funds and orchestrating the diversion of money, all in exchange for commissions, the bureau said in a release.

The Cyber Security Bureau's data analysis team detected numerous complaints reported on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP) portal against six bank accounts in the PSU bank at Shamsheergunj, and upon careful verification, it was revealed that large sums of money were transacted through these accounts within a short period of two months in March and April 2024, it had said.

The account holders were suspected of being involved in large-scale cyber fraud and it was found that approximately 600 complaints are linked to these accounts.

The main fraudster, operating from Dubai, and his five associates were actively involved in luring poor people into opening bank accounts and supplying them for use in cyber crimes and hawala operations on a commission basis, police said.

Following the main fraudster’s directions, the accused, who were earlier arrested, and other associates convinced some poor individuals to open six current accounts in the bank's Shamsheergunj branch in February this year, luring them with commissions.

In March and April, significant transactions occurred in these six accounts, totaling approximately Rs 175 crore, police said.

Some of the money was sent to Dubai as cryptocurrency. The associates withdrew the money following the directions of the main fraudster and distributed it to various individuals through his agents, police added.

Police have cautioned the public not to open bank accounts for someone else or engage in suspicious transactions. “If you have already opened a mule account, report it to 1930 or cybercrime.gov.in,” the release added.