A 34-year-old woman from Tarnaka lost over ₹1.05 crore in a cyber investment fraud that promised huge returns but instead drained her savings into a web of mule accounts and crypto wallets.
Hyderabad Cyber Crime Police arrested six members of the organised gang behind the racket, while the prime accused, identified as Chen Chen from China, remains at large.
Those arrested were identified as Addulapuri Harsha Vardhan, Konduru Venu, Mylaram Pradeep, Pachipala Vinodh Yadav, Parasanaboina Vamshi, and Mangali Laxman. Police seized 15 debit cards, three passbooks, one cheque book, eight mobile phones, a fingerprint machine and a scanner from them.
“Between January and July this year, the victim from Tarnaka was lured through Instagram and Telegram groups where the fraudsters posed as officials of the NSE and Coin SSDCX. To build her confidence, they credited small rewards initially, before persuading her to make larger transfers under the pretext of investments, tax clearance and approvals,” said an officer.
Though her trading app account falsely displayed a balance of ₹6.05 crore, she never received a refund and eventually realised that she had been duped of ₹1,05,03,752.
Probe revealed that the accused opened more than 50 bank accounts to route the cheated funds. One such account was used to channel ₹90,000 of the victim’s money before ATM cards were passed from one accused to another for withdrawals. Cash was taken out at ATMs and petrol pumps, with each accused collecting commissions on the transactions.
“Using a crypto wallet, Venu purchased USDT, short for United States Dollar Tether, which is a type of cryptocurrency called a stablecoin, from the fraudulent proceeds. He then transferred it to Chen Chen abroad, who in return paid commissions in rupees,” explained the officer.
Citizens have been advised to remain cautious of unsolicited investment offers and to report any suspected cyber fraud immediately by dialling 1930 or visiting cybercrime.gov.in for assistance.
Published – August 22, 2025 07:51 pm IST
