Tirupati cyber crime police retrieve Rs 11.60 lakh cash lost in online fraud

TIRUPATI: Tirupati Cyber Crime Police helped a woman, who fell victim to cyber fraud, to get back Rs 11.60 lakh that she lost through an email conversation with a cyber fraudster.

In an official statement issued on Tuesday, the Cyber Crime Cell Circle Inspector (CI) Ramachandra Reddy said that the victim was identified as SV Sushmita, a resident of LB Nagar in SVU campus police station limits. Sushmita worked as chief coordinator of Praja Pragati Trust. AL Rangarajan, one of the members of their trust, resides in Chennai, supervises the foreign funds and often communicates about trust matters through email conversation.

On May 25, the cyber fraudsters hacked the email account of AL Rangarajan and sent an email to Sushmitha and asked her to send Rs 5 lakh to his Canara Bank account. The victim had sent Rs 5 lakh to the cyber fraudsters from the trust-operated bank account assuming it was Rangarajan’s direction. Similarly, Sushmita received another email from the cyber fraudsters on May 29 and asked her to send Rs 11 lakh to the above said bank account. The victim once again sent Rs 11 lakh to the cyber fraudsters after taking permission from the trust chairman, the CI said.

Ramachandra Reddy said that Rangarajan confirmed that he had not sent any mail asking for money. But by then, a total of Rs 16 lakh had already been extorted by cyber fraudsters. The victim then approached the SVU campus police station and the police registered a case and forwarded the case to Cyber Crime Police. Upon the victim lodging a complaint, cyber crime police acted swiftly and investigated the case by verifying the bank account details of the victim, he said.

“We have investigated the case from all possible angles and examined the fraudulent transaction details. The police came to know that a fraudulent transaction was done at Canara Bank’s Teynampet branch in Chennai. The bank manager has been requested to freeze the account of the cyber fraudster and re-deposited Rs 11.60 lakh in Praja Pragati Trust Union Bank account,” the CI said. The public can alert the police on the Cyber Crime Helpline, 1930, within 24 hours of losing money through financial fraud. They could also register their complaints on the cybercrime website, he added.