KADAPA: In one of the biggest cyber frauds, Kadapa police arrested two persons who deceived more than 100 people, and froze Rs 62.5 crore in 23 bank accounts to which the amount collected from the gullible people was transferred.
The fraud, which included Rs 11 crore from victims of Kadapa, was committed in just four months, Superintendent of Police KKN Anburajan told newsmen here on Wednesday.The two accused are Gokul of Namakkal and Muruganandam of Erode in Tamil Nadu.
Revealing the modus operandi of the fraudsters, the SP said the two accused had circulated the URL links of ‘money making app’ and RCC app through bulk SMS and WhatsApp to several people in the district.
“Nearly 110 people, including farmers from Mydukur and Kazipet mandals in the district, are among those who downloaded the apps,” Anburajan said.
The fraudsters lured them by assuring that they could earn easy money from home. The victims deposited money in the apps with a hope of getting double the investment.“If a person deposits Rs 1 lakh, he would be asked to do three to four transactions a day for which they would be paid certain amount as commission. Also, the fraudsters promised more commission if they admit new members in the app,’’ the SP explained.
The transactions, however, were only namesake ones. Ultimately, the victims were not able to get the money deposited, nor the commission promised by the fraudsters,” the SP said.Following a complaint lodged by Ghouse Basha in Kadapa I Town police station that he had lost Rs 1.30 lakh deposited in the money making app, the police started investigation and found the app IP address, based on which the duo were nabbed. “The accused told us that they purchased the app from Malaysia,’’ the SP said.
Further, the police found that the money deposited was circulated or laundered to 23 bank accounts. Four cases were registered in Kadapa in connection with the fraud and during investigation, another victim Dandu Naga Chaitanya, provided crucial information about the accused, which led the police to bust the racket.
During inquiry, we came to know that the duo were arrested by Dehradun police in a similar case. The fraudsters were brought to Kadapa on a Prisoner Transit Warrant. They were produced before court and remanded.
Duo held by Dehradun police in similar case
During probe, Kadapa police came to know that Muruganandam and Gokul were arrested by Dehradun police in a similar case. The duo were brought to Kadapa on a Prisoner Transit Warrant and produced in court