Dont fall for fake gift scratch cards; Cyberabad cops bust scam, arrest 10

Hyderabad: The Cyberabad cyber crime police arrested 10 persons, including five from Telangana's Mancherial district, on 1 March for cheating people by sending them fake gift scratch cards.

In September 2020, the Cyberabad police received a complaint from one of the victims who was cheated to the tune of over Rs. 95,000. A month ago the complainant had received a call from Karthik from Herbal Care Group who had asked the complainant for his details.

On 17 August, the victim received a scratch card through the post informing him that he had won a Tata Safari. Then he received a call saying due to COVID-19 they were unable to deliver the vehicle. The caller told the victim that instead, they would deposit the prize money in his bank account. The latter then received a message from "AD-SBI BNK" that said, "TDS, GST, TAX is hold due to TDS, GST clearance is due Rs. INR 45,150."

The victim then received a call from Arun Varma who informed him that to get the prize money he had to pay the TDS and GST amount. Arun gave him two account numbers. Following this the victim deposited Rs. 22,779 to Ashish Kumar's account and Rs. 72,680 to Jayant Kumar Lenka's account on 20 August. However, he again received a call from Arun who asked for more money. The victim then realized it was a fraud and that he had been cheated.

The police arrested Sourabh Patel and Yashwanth Thakur from Madhya Pradesh, while Manchinella Venkatesh, Gurram Rakesh, Elkaturi Prashanth, Suram Rajender Reddy, and Lingampally Rajlingu were arrested from the Mancherial district. Four persons - Tiranju and Bajarangi from Bihar, Kotresh from Karnataka, and Sunil from Ranchi – are absconding.

Advisory

1. None of the e-commerce company send application letters and scratch cards and offer Prizes/Amount/Gifts etc.

2. None of the e-commerce company send bulk SMS to their customers and Offer Prizes/Amount/Gifts etc.

3. It is requested that, if you get any scratch cards or gift cards by post don't respond to mentioned numbers.