Police Nab 16 Suspects in Loan App Scam
City Police in Visakhapatnam have identified a gang involved in cheating innocent individuals through loan apps. Police Commissioner Shankhabrata Bagchi has disclosed that 16 persons connected to the scam had been taken into custody. While speaking at a press conference on Sunday, he put before the media case details.
Last year, a man from Visakhapatnam borrowed Rs. 3,200 in loan from an app and returned the amount. Despite payment, the cyber scammers continued to pester him, and it pushed him towards taking his life. The police launched an investigation upon the registration of the complaint filed by the wife of the deceased.
WhatsApp Threats Trace Back to Pakistan
WhatsApp threat assessment revealed that the messages originated from a Pakistani IP address. The misleading transactions were discovered to have their origin in a business like bank accounts based in Assam and Gujarat. Special task forces were deployed to the states, resulting in the arrest of six individuals who had created the bank accounts to be used for criminal activity.
Additional probes led to the arrest of Kurnool's R. Srinivasa Rao. He confessed to offering 30 bank accounts to cyber attackers and receiving commissions worth Rs. 12 lakh.
Network Exposed and Sambasiva Rao Key Accused
Authorities arrested Eluru's Anjana Devi, who provided tips on Sambasiva Rao (32) of Hyderabad. Rao and seven of his cohorts were arrested. The mastermind of the scam turned out to be Sambasiva Rao.
He was in contact with Hunt and Andy from China, who were well known for loan cyberfraud. They operated through the Telegram app, giving commissions of Rs. 1.60 lakh per crore for giving bank accounts. Sambasiva Rao, along with his team members Sandeep, Dilip, Jeevansai, Saikrishna, Adarsh, Srinivas, and Bharat, opened 132 bank accounts on the basis of details collected from unsuspecting customers. The accounts were further handed over to the Chinese cybercrooks.
Massive Transactions and Crypto Seizures
Investigations revealed that approximately Rs. 200 crore in transactions were carried out using these 132 accounts. The overall amount of money Sambasiva Rao is alleged to have earned is nearly Rs. 4.5 crore through commissions from these illegal transactions.
City Police Commissioner said that he found and confiscated a cryptocurrency of Rs.60 lakh which was in the hardware support in Dilip's mobile phone as well as in Sandeep's mobile phone.
