Kadapa district police have busted an inter-State gang involved in a cyber crime and arrested one person for duping the public of their money in the name of providing COVID-19 compensation under YSR Bhima.
Meenuga Venkatesh(31), hailing from Miduthur village in Khajipet mandal, gathered mobile phone numbers of ANMs and through them, used to get information about people who had died of COVID-19 in the district. He would then pass it on to a group running a call centre in New Delhi, from where calls would be made to the kin of the deceased, promising to offer them compensation under ‘YSR Bhima’.
Claiming themselves to be government staff calling from the Collector’s office, the accused sought details of the OTP received on their mobile phone to swindle money from their bank account.
Based on the complaint from the victims, the department registered cases.
Upon knowing that the gang had looted close to ₹9 lakh, Superintendent of Police K.K.N. Anburajan instructed Kadapa One Town Inspector N.V. Nagaraju to investigate the matter with the assistance of cyber crime division.
Investigation revealed that an amount of ₹7,37,964 was received in nine bank accounts through various UPIs, and steps were taken to freeze the relevant accounts, Mr. Anburajan said at a media conference on Wednesday.
Venkatesh was nabbed at a prominent junction in Kadapa city on Wednesday. Upon interrogation, he admitted to have colluded with his friends running a call centre in Delhi.
