Cybercrime Police Nab Two from Gujarat in ₹32 Lakh Online Trading Fraud

Hyderabad, Sept. 19 ( Shoukat-PMI) – The Cybercrimes Unit of Hyderabad City Police arrested two accused from Vadodara, Gujarat, for duping a Hyderabad resident of ₹32 lakh in an online trading fraud.

The arrested persons have been identified as Inamdar Vinayaka Rajendar alias Nikhil (25) and Rishi Thushar Arothe alias Vikranth (30). Rajendar, who works in a private job, provided his and others’ bank accounts to fraudsters for commission, while Arothe, a former Ranji cricket player from Baroda with a past criminal record, created Binance wallet IDs and diverted the defrauded amounts to USDT cryptocurrency accounts.

The Case

The victim, a Hyderabad resident, was lured through a fake advertisement of the “Aditya Birla Group” on social media and added to a WhatsApp group named Aditya Birla Stock Elite Group 678. A woman posing as a trade advisor, “Aiyana Joseph,” guided him to download a fraudulent trading app and invest in stocks and IPOs.

Initially, the victim was shown fake profits and was even allotted IPOs like “Lakshmi Dental” and “Kabra Jewel.” However, when he refused to deposit an additional ₹1 crore demanded for further allotments, the application stopped working. Realizing it was a scam, he approached the Cybercrime Police.

Based on his complaint, a case was registered under Cr.No. 218/2025 U/s 66(C), 66(D) IT Act & Sec 318(4), 319(2), 336(3), 338, 340(2) BNS.

Multi-State Fraud Network

Investigations revealed that the accused were linked to 12 similar fraud cases across India, including in Telangana (2), Maharashtra (3), Karnataka (2), Haryana (1), Kerala (1), Jammu & Kashmir (1), Madhya Pradesh (1), and West Bengal (1).

Seizures

2 Mobile Phones (containing WhatsApp chats on bank account sharing and crypto transactions)

Public Advisory

Cybercrime Police cautioned citizens against falling prey to such fake investment groups on WhatsApp, Telegram, and social media platforms. Fraudsters lure victims with promises of high returns, use fake websites/apps to show profits, and block withdrawals after large deposits. Citizens are advised to verify companies through SEBI-registered financial advisors before investing.

The operation was led by Inspector K. Prasada Rao with his team, under the supervision of ACP R.G. Siva Maruthi.(pressmediaofindia.com)