Visakhapatnam Police have uncovered a gang trapping innocent people in debt through a loan app scam. They arrested 16 individuals assisting the gang. The accused facilitated the opening of 132 bank accounts by unsuspecting individuals, through which transactions worth approximately ₹200 crore were conducted.
A Visakhapatnam resident borrowed ₹3,200 from a loan app last year and repaid it, but cybercriminals continued to harass him. Unable to bear the mental torture, he took his own life. Following a complaint from the victim’s wife, the Cybercrime Police launched an investigation. Upon examining the victim’s WhatsApp messages, they traced the threats to an IP address in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. The financial transactions were found to have been routed through bank accounts in Assam and Gujarat. Police teams were dispatched to these states, leading to the arrest of six individuals responsible for opening those accounts.
In the same case, R. Srinivasarao from Kurnool was arrested and confessed to providing 30 bank accounts to cybercriminals for ₹12 lakh. According to Visakhapatnam City Police Commissioner Shankhabrata Bagchi, two suspicious WhatsApp numbers were identified, with their last login IP address traced to Rawalpindi, Pakistan. A promotional link on Facebook was found promoting the ‘Cash Back’ app. Based on this, a notice was issued under Section 94 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), and further investigation led to the discovery of an Indian bank account opened by an individual in Hailakandi, Assam. These accounts were used for various fraudulent activities, with the funds transferred to five different accounts. The police received complaints from at least 1,500 victims of this loan app scam, and they estimate that many more may have been affected but did not file complaints.
Based on information provided by Anjana Devi from Eluru, who was taken into custody, the police arrested G. Sambasiva Rao from Hyderabad and seven of his associates. Sambasiva Rao was identified as the prime accused. He communicated via the Telegram app with Chinese cybercriminals named Hunt and Andy, who promised a commission of ₹1,60,000 per crore of transactions for providing bank accounts. Enticed by this offer, Sambasiva Rao, along with his friends K. Sandeep, Y.V. Dileep Kumar, Jeevan Sai, Y. Sai Krishna, Adarsh, Srinivas, and Bharat, facilitated the opening of 132 bank accounts from unsuspecting individuals. These accounts were handed over to the Chinese cybercriminals.
The police confirmed that transactions worth approximately ₹200 crore were conducted through these 132 accounts. Sambasiva Rao earned a commission of ₹4.5 crore by selling these accounts. Upon examining the mobile phones of Sambasiva Rao, Dileep, and Sandeep, the police identified cryptocurrency assets worth ₹60 lakh, which were seized with the help of specialized hardware, as stated by Commissioner Bagchi.
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