HYDERABAD: Acting on a tip-off, Madhapur police have apprehended 115 persons, including six masterminds who had woven a sophisticated web of cyber fraud targeted American citizens through intimidation, cryptocurrency manipulation, and deceit.
The masterminds were identified as Ansari Mohirfan and Ganchi Akib, who had set up AG Solutions, and Pradeep Vinod Rathod, Osman Ghani Khan, Shivam Pradhan, and Deepu Thapar, who operated Vertez Solutions. These six, in collaboration with their telecallers, executed an elaborate modus operandi designed to extort funds from their victims.
Giving details, Cyberabad Commissioner Stephen Raveendra said that the fraudsters set up the stage for their extortion by harvesting information about American citizens from various websites. Posing as officials from the US Customs and Border Protection Cell Department, they employed intimidation to coerce their targets into purchasing gift cards and vouchers from renowned companies such as Amazon and Apple. The victims, under duress, complied and provided the redemption codes of these vouchers to the fraudsters.
The criminal syndicate then cashed in the gift card codes by selling them at discounted rates on the Paxful website, a platform for trading cryptocurrencies. The funds were converted into cryptocurrency, specifically USDT (Stablecoin), utilising wallets on the cryptocurrency exchange platform Trust.
They then identified local Bitcoin vendors willing to exchange cryptocurrency for cash through various methods including IMPS and UPI transactions. The fraudsters concealed their tracks, ensuring minimal prior information about the handlers.