The cyber crime cell of the city police arrested two members of a gang that allegedly cheated a youth of Sabbavaram mandal by convincing him that he had won a lottery worth Rs. 5 crore, and collected Rs. 1.31 crore as processing money to receive the prize money. The two persons were from Gwalior in MP.
The arrested were a real estate businessman, Dhirendra Singh Rawat (29), and a second year BA student, Akash Rana. As many as 31 persons were suspected to be involved in the fraud and a Nigerian staying in India was its kingpin, DCP (crime) T. Ravi Kumar Murthy said at a press conference here on Saturday.
A 22-year-old youth, Pandi Venkata Ramana of Pandivanipalem in Sabbavaram mandal, received a message on his mobile last year that he had won ‘Coca Cola Company’ lucky lottery worth Rs. 5 crore and was later informed over his mobile that the money was in the UK and needed to be converted into Indian currency for which he had to pay some amount as a processing charge. Mr. Ramana fell in the trap and raised Rs. 1.31 crore from his friends and disposed of his property and deposited the amount in 30 bank accounts as directed by the fraudsters in over 50 instalments. The fraudsters also sent a fake ‘CBI clearance certificate’ to him to collect the money and he was again asked to pay some more money which he could not raise.
Fake certificate
Mr. Ramana, who approached the CBI in New Delhi with the certificate, was shocked when he was told that it was a fake one. He lodged a complaint with the Parawada police and the case was registered under Sections 419,420,468 and 471 of IPC and Sec. 66 C and D of IT Act. The case was later transferred to the cyber crime wing. A team, led by SI P. Appala Raju of II Town Police Station, was sent to Gwalior where they arrested the two persons with the assistance of the local police.
Rawat and Rana were told by their friends that some amount of money would be transferred to their bank accounts from Visakhapatnam and that they should keep Rs. 50,000 each for themselves and transfer the balance amount to the bank accounts given to them. Rs. 2 lakh were deposited in Rawat’s account on October 8, 2014 and Rs. 1.5 lakh into Rana’s account on September 29, 2014. They had kept Rs. 50,000 each with them and transferred the rest to the bank accounts given by their friends.
