A 21-year-old man was arrested by the cyber crimes wing of the Hyderabad police in connection with an online trading fraud in which a city resident was cheated of ₹32 lakh.
The accused, Ansari Mohammed Umar Murad alias Umar, a native of Mumbai, was found to be in direct contact with a Chinese national and played a key role in routing the defrauded money through cryptocurrency channels, police said.
Following the arrest, the police seized a mobile phone and a laptop from the accused. Officials said analysis of the mobile phone revealed Telegram conversations with the Chinese national, including the sharing of bank account credentials, details of USDT conversions and other transaction-related information.
According to the police, a woman identifying herself as Aiyana Joseph, a trade adviser, persuaded him to invest through a fake trading application, which falsely displayed profits and IPO allotments.
In total, ₹32 lakh was transferred before he realised the fraud and reported the matter to the national cybercrime helpline and the local cybercrime police.
Investigations revealed that Ansari Mohammed Umar Murad had sound knowledge of cryptocurrency trading and, along with another accused identified as Rishi Thushar Arothe alias Vikranth, 30, a cricket coach and resident of Vadodara, Gujarat, converted the cheated amount from rupees to USDT before transferring them to wallet addresses supplied by the Chinese national. An amount of around ₹50 lakh was allegedly routed in this manner. Another accused, identified as Inamdar Vinayaka Rajendar alias Nikhil, 25, a private employee, also a resident of Vadodora, provided bank accounts on a commission basis and arranged additional accounts from associates to facilitate fraudulent transactions.
Two other accused in the case were arrested earlier. The police said the accused persons are collectively involved in at least 12 similar cases across Telangana, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal.
The police urged people to be cautious of investment advertisements on social media claiming links with reputed companies, to avoid joining WhatsApp or Telegram groups promising guaranteed returns or IPO allotments, and to refrain from downloading trading applications shared through unknown links. He also warned against sharing bank accounts for commission, stating that mule accounts are frequently used in cyber frauds.
Published – December 17, 2025 07:55 pm IST
