Two lose over Rs 50L to cyber fraudsters

Two persons were cheated of over Rs 50 lakh through online investment and incentive scams. A Delhi resident was duped of Rs 23.8 lakh on the pretext of stock market investment, while another person, a private employee from Lucknow, lost more than Rs 26 lakh after being assured of online incentives that later pushed him into a fake crypto trading platform.

The Cyber Cell of the Delhi Police Crime Branch on Saturday arrested two persons in separate cases.

In the first case, the complainant was induced to transfer Rs 23,80,490 through 15 RTGS and NEFT transactions after being promised high returns from stock market investments. The accused, Sunil Kumar Reddy (44), an MBA graduate from Anantapur and a business development executive, allegedly presented himself as a legitimate adviser.

Multiple bank accounts used in the transactions were frozen and Rs 5 lakh was returned to the complainant. Reddy was arrested in Anantapur following inter-state coordination.

In another case, a 26-year-old private employee was cheated of Rs 26,49,180 after receiving messages offering online incentives. He was later diverted to a fraudulent crypto trading platform.

The police identified the accused as Ayush Semwal (21), a BCom student from Gautam Budh Nagar and a call centre employee. Semwal allegedly operated mule accounts used to move the funds. Investigators found that 18 bank accounts were used to layer the proceeds of the crime. All accounts hade been frozen, the police said.

During interrogation, Semwal told the police that he sold several accounts to an associate for a commission based on transaction amounts. He was arrested on November 8 from his workplace in Noida.

The police said both arrests helped uncover a coordinated cyber fraud operation spanning multiple states and further investigation is underway.