GUNTUR: Palnadu police arrested a 25-year-old cyber fraudster and recovered Rs 8.66 lakh from him on Thursday. The arrested was identified as V Sarath Babu, a native of Anchualavaripalem in Rajupalem mandal.
Disclosing the case details at a press meet, Palnadu SP Ravishankar Reddy said that the accused was addicted to online bettings and poker games for easy money. In order to pay the required fee amount to log into various online betting websites, he committed several UPI crimes and stole over Rs 11.9 lakh from people.
“He targets elderly and women customers at shops and malls, and tricks them to send a rupee or two to his phone number through online money transaction apps. Later, he manages to acquire their passwords and siphons off money from the victims bank accounts,” the SP added. ‘
Upon receiving a complaint, Vinukonda police filed a case and launched an investigation. The police learnt that as many as 18 cases were filed against the accused in various police stations. The police froze the accused’s bank accounts in which Rs 2.26 lakh amount was credited and launched a man hunt.
Acting on a tip off, the police arrested Sarath on Wednesday night and recovered Rs 8.66 lakh from him.
On this occasion, the SP urged the public to be cautious and not to give their mobile phones to unknown persons.