In a big relief to former joint director of Central Bureau of Investigation V V Lakshminarayana, Hyderabad cybercrime police arrested four inter-state cybercriminals who cheated him and his wife of crores of rupees in a stock market investment fraud.
According to the police, the fraud was operated from Myanmar, and the arrested individuals were involved in arranging mule bank accounts used to siphon off the money.
The accused, belonging to Bihar and West Bengal, were brought to Hyderabad on transit warrants and remanded to judicial custody.
Authorities have managed to freeze Rs 45 lakh from the amount lost in the scam.
According to the complaint, JD’s wife Urmila, who resides in the MLA Colony at Banjara Hills, received a WhatsApp link in November last year offering lucrative stock market investment opportunities.
The fraudsters claimed that investing through their organisation would generate “500 times profits,” luring her with unrealistic returns.
Since Urmila had little knowledge of trading, she sought assistance from her husband.
The scammers then added the couple to a group named “Stock Market Profit Guide Exchange Group-20,” convincing them that they were market experts.
Between December 24 and January 5, the accused allegedly induced Urmila to invest Rs 2.58 crore in 19 instalments. They displayed fake profits of nearly Rs 2 crore in a digital account to gain her confidence.
However, when she attempted to withdraw the money, the fraudsters refused and demanded additional payments. Realising she had been cheated, Urmila approached the police in the first week of January.
Cybercrime officials said further investigation is underway to identify additional links in the international fraud network.
