Hyderabad, October 18 (IANS). Hyderabad Police has arrested two accused in the case of duping a 63-year-old retired employee of more than Rs 29 lakh in the name of digital arrest.
Cyber crime police have arrested the accused for providing bank accounts for the defrauded amount, withdrawing the fraudulently obtained funds and depositing the same in different bank accounts to hide the clues of money transactions. The accused are also accused of collaborating with cyber fraudsters to help in transactions related to USDT (digital currency) and taking commission in return.
The arrested accused have been identified as Mohammad Ashfaq Hussain and Ahmed Najeeb Uddin, residents of Hyderabad. According to the police, the third accused Sachin is a resident of Bengaluru and is absconding.
Hyderabad City Additional Police Commissioner (Crime and SIT) M. Srinivasulu gave information about the case in a statement issued on Sunday. He told that the 63-year-old retired employee had received calls from unknown people on March 3, 2025. The callers introduced themselves as officers of Delhi Police, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The accused falsely accused the victim of being involved in a money laundering case of Rs 6.8 crore and threatened him with arrest. To prove their claims, they also sent fake government documents to the victim. He claimed that the victim's Aadhaar details and fingerprints were misused in the alleged crime.
After this the accused obtained personal and banking related information from the victim. They forced the victim and her daughter to transfer the money in the name of investigation and verification by assuring the return of the amount.
Citing national security, the thugs also instructed the victim and her daughter not to talk to anyone about this matter. Also, both were threatened with arrest. Trusting the words of the accused, the victim and her daughter transferred a total of Rs 29,17,668.
When the amount was not returned, the victim realized he had been cheated and complained to the police. Based on the complaint, the police registered a case under sections 66(C) and 66(D) of the Information Technology Act and sections 111(2)(B), 318(4), 319(2), 336(3), 338 and 340(2) of the Indian Judicial Code (BNS).
According to the police, both the arrested accused were struggling with financial crisis. During this time, he got acquainted with Sachin through WhatsApp. Sachin planned to transfer the fraudulent amount through multiple bank accounts in the name of digital arrest, so that it would become difficult for the investigating agencies to trace the money transactions and reach the source of the money.
As part of the scheme, Ashfaq collected bank account details from Najeeb and shared them with Sachin. After this, Sachin transferred the fraudulent amount to the bank account provided by Najeeb.
Later, Ashfaq and Najeeb withdrew the amount through checks and deposited the cash in different bank accounts through cash deposit machines (CDMs). According to the police, Sachin used this money to buy USDT cryptocurrency and later sold it online to get Indian rupees.
–IANS
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