Cyber Crimes DCP Y.V.S. Sudheendra and other police officials with the seized material during the press conference on Saturday.
| Photo Credit: By Arrangement
Six members of an inter-State trading fraud gang involved in supplying mule bank accounts and SIM cards to online scam operators were arrested by the cybercrimes wing of the Cyberabad police. The syndicate is believed to have links to hundreds of cyber fraud cases across the country, with property loss estimated at over ₹1.09 crore. The police seized seven mobile phones, 11 SIM cards and three cheque books from them.
The accused were identified as Venigalla Srinivas Rao, 52; Chitta Ganesh, 45; Gandluru Naveen Kumar Reddy, 33; Sathuri Rajesh, 41; Maddiralla Sudheer, 50 and Mohammad Ashraf, 39.
According to police, the gang acquired bank accounts, cheque books and SIM cards from various individuals and supplied them to operators running fraudulent online trading sites. Victims were deceived using fabricated dashboards and profit statements and were induced to transfer money into mule accounts. These accounts were then used to channel large-scale financial transactions for commission.
Forensic analysis of seized devices revealed 60 cheque leaf images and digital evidence linking the network to nearly 400 cyber fraud incidents nationwide, including three within Cyberabad. Investigators found that the accounts were initially sourced by Srinivas Rao and Ganesh, while Naveen Kumar Reddy handled documentation and onboarding of account holders. The collected accounts were later passed to Sathuri Rajesh, who allegedly earned ₹1 lakh per ₹1 crore transaction volume and ₹10,000 per account.
Police said Rajesh further routed the accounts to Maddiralla Sudheer and Mohammad Ashraf, who earned 2% commission. While Sudheer shared specific account credentials for a 5% commission, Ashraf allegedly transmitted multiple accounts to overseas operators via Telegram using the ID ‘Sybo_pay’.
The case has been registered under multiple provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Section 66-D of the Information Technology Act. Further investigation will continue after securing police custody of the accused, and efforts are under way to trace absconding members of the network.
Authorities have cautioned the public not to share or rent out bank accounts, SIM cards, ATM cards or OTPs for monetary gain, warning that such acts are criminal offences and attract strict legal consequences.
Published – November 29, 2025 06:39 pm IST
