VIJAYAWADA: Vijayawada cybercrime police and Nallajerla police in West Godavari district on Sunday registered two separate cases against as many persons for allegedly duping the public to the tune of around Rs 5 crore. According to police, the accused, identified as Krishna and Geethika Rajput, introduced themselves as the managers of an unverified mobile application ‘Maersk’ and allegedly lured more than 2,000 people from various districts across the State to invest money in return for good profits.
Following a preliminary investigation, police clarified that the unverified mobile application had nothing to do with the Denmark-based transport and logistics firm Maersk. However, the fraud came to light over the weekend when customers, duped by the duo, intercepted containers of the logistics company at two places in the State, assuming them to belong to the firm they had invested in.
In Kondapalli, residents of Shanti Nagar colony obstructed a container, carrying electronic items, heading towards Chennai from Chattisgarh. Similarly, residents of Nallajerla and other surrounding villages stopped a container, alerted the Nallajerla police and lodged a complaint alleging that they were duped by the logistics company Maersk. It has been learnt that Krishna is at large and the operations of his group have been suspended.
Cybercrime inspector P Satyanandam explained, “In both cases, we have observed that the cyber fraudsters had created a fake mobile application called Maersk and deployed different internal groups. While Krishna monitored the operations in the NTR and Krishna districts, Geethika looked after West Godavari and East Godavari. We are collecting the details of the accused and the company.”A special team has been formed to investigate the case and ascertain the total money swindled.