Cyber financial fraud: Telangana man arrested for duping Rs 23.39 lakh from Odisha couple
In a major success, Odisha Police on Tuesday arrested a key suspect in a cyber financial fraud case involving a fake forex trading platform that duped a retired couple of Bhubaneswar of Rs 23.39 lakh.
Bhubaneswar: In a major success, Odisha Police on Tuesday arrested a key suspect in a cyber financial fraud case involving a fake forex trading platform that duped a retired couple of Bhubaneswar of Rs 23.39 lakh.
Based on the complaint of one Sabyasachi Praharaj (63), the Cyber Crime and Economic Offences Police started an investigation and arrested the key suspect whom they identified as Kathi Karthik Kumar of Karimnagar in Telangana.
According to police, Sabyasachi and his wife were planning to start a nursing school after retirement, they came across a Facebook advertisement of a Forex trading platform and invested Rs 23,39,380 through online transfer, which was fraudulently transferred to the account of “RAPIDGROW Mutually Aided Cooperative Thrift and Credit Society Limited” maintained with RBL Bank, Karimnagar Branch, Telangana.
During investigation, it was confirmed that the said account was being used to receive fraudulent deposits from the victims in the name of “Venturus.com” and similar investment platforms banned in the European Union and other developed countries.
The investigation further revealed that the account and its virtual sub-accounts were being operated by Rajendra Prasad Sawala, Chairman of RAPIDGROW Society and were linked to another entity called Messrs BRIO Mart jointly operated by Mergu Jalendra and Kathi Karthik Kumar of Karimnagar in Telangana.
Subsequent field investigations and raids in Telangana led to the arrest of key suspects. Examination of records and seized documents revealed that the accused were jointly operating fraudulent business setups, creating fake company logos, websites and forging electronic records to dupe the victims and embezzle their hard-earned money. Accused Kathi Karthik Kumar was a 50% shareholder of Messrs BRIO Mart and was receiving commission payments from agent Pranay Bandi for operating the fraudulent virtual accounts.
During investigation, criminal material like transaction records, fake KYC forms, electronic correspondence and WhatsApp chats and a mobile handset containing banking details of fraudulent transactions were seized from the custody of the accused. The accused was found to be actively involved in organised cyber financial fraud by creating virtual current accounts and impersonating legitimate business entities to defraud the public.
The accused Kathi Karthik Kumar was arrested yesterday and the evidence against him under Sections 318(2)/318(4)/319(2)/336(2)/336(3)/338/340(2)/3(5) of the Information Technology Act, 2000 r/w Section 66(C)/66(D) of the BNS, 2023 has been clearly established. He was produced before the court after all legal formalities were observed.
Further investigation of the case is currently underway to trace the money trail and identify other members of the racket.
