HYDERABAD: Cyberabad police on Wednesday busted ‘second channel’, a new type of investment fraud in which fraudsters lured their prey by getting them to invest in “secret accounts” akin to accounts in Swiss banks.
The police seized cash and properties together worth Rs 1.76 crore from the two arrested accused, while three more accused, including the kingpin, are absconding.
According to the police, the accused led the victims to believe that the ‘second channel’ bank account was a secret banking channel that remains hidden from all bank employees except a few executives at the top and the investor himself. The victims are lured with promises of huge returns, to the ratio of 1:3.
Balanagar DCP PV Padmaja identified the kingpin as D Satyanarayana of Karnataka. Elaborating on the case, the DCP said that the accused convinced the victims that they have Rs 1,000 crore in the “secret account”, and in order to transfer the amount, they have to book a slot for Rs 18 lakh and slot time will be allotted for the transaction.
For this, the victims are made to pay the slot booking fees, a token amount, account rental charges and are given a recent transaction slip, net banking updating login ID, password, email ID, phone number and issued a ‘gray statement’. The total amount the victim finally part with runs into tens of lakhs. The accused then introduce their associates as Vice Presidents of the respective banks.
The accused and these “VPs” also conduct meetings with the victims in star hotels and explain to them that if transactions are done through a second channel account, they will get Trade Profit Fund in 1:3 profit ratio. The victims paid crores, only to realise much later they were cheated. Following a complaint, the Special Operations Team along with Petbasheerabad police nabbed the accused.