HYDERABAD: Cyberabad cybercrime police arrested three persons on Monday in connection with a Rs 1.38 crore “digital arrest” fraud.
The accused, identified as Gokul Maruthachalamoorthi (24), Jafar Sereef (23) and Sharukh Khan (30), are residents of Tamil Nadu.
Based on a complaint by an 82-year-old retired engineer, the case was registered in September 2024.
He was duped by fraudsters posing as an SBI representative and a Mumbai Cybercrime officer, as per the complaint. They had falsely implicated him in an Anti-Money Laundering (AML) case and persuaded him into transferring Rs 1.386 crore to multiple bank accounts, the police said.
The police tracked the transactions and found that `9.6 lakh was credited to Gokul’s Federal Bank account, withdrawn by Rahul. Gokul had shared his banking details with Jafar and Sharukh, who, along with Rahul, formed a network to defraud victims.
The fraudsters used WhatsApp and Telegram, impersonating police officers to extract banking details.
The police have urged the public to be cautious of unknown calls from those claiming to be from banks or law enforcement.