INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
HYDERABAD: Cyber crime is no longer the preserve of fraudsters from-far off Jamtara (Jharkhand) and Bharatpur (Rajasthan), two places
Local gangs from rural Telangana have slowly crawled their way into this virtual web of crime
In little over a month, the Siddipet police have arrested three such gangs from Telangana's hinterland who have duped more than 20,000
people from the two Telugu states and pocketed nearly ?30 lakh
On Wednesday, Begumpet police of Siddipet commissionerate busted two gangs and arrested eight accused, mostly students, from two villages in
Doultabad mandal in the district for duping thousands of men from Telangana and AP by offering nude videos, photos and sex chat using fake
profiles of women on social media
One gang was being run by three degree students and a mobile phone shop worker, while the other gang of four included two degree students, a
graduate-turned-farmer and a private travels owner
Both the gangs have been in operation for about three years, police said
"The accused had created fake profiles on ShareChat app posing as women
After befriending the men, they used to ask for money to share nude photos and videos
They also used to indulge in sex chat for money
After receiving money, they used to block the callers
These two gangs collected small amounts ranging from ?500 to ?1,000 from the victims
As per our estimates, the two gangs have collected over ?22 lakh from more than 19,000 people from all walks of life," Gajwel ACP Ramesh
said.Prior to this, on June 20 Begumpet police (Siddipet) had arrested gang of two which had duped more than 5,000 victims for ?9 lakh
The duo extorted money from the victims by threatening to share their nude video screen recordings and sex chats
They also used to threaten the victims posing as cops
While one of them was a college drop-out, the other accused was a driver, police said."From the two gangs arrested on Wednesday, we have
seized 11 cell phones, 19 SIM cards, seven bank passbooks and seven debit cards
They have spent the money for personal use
One of the accused purchased a bike worth ?2 lakh
We found 7,000 phone numbers blocked in the cell phones of the accused
One of the offenders, who works at a cell phone shop, has been misusing customer data to obtain SIM cards," Begumpet SI P Arun said
The eight accused were produced before court and sent in judicial remand on Wednesday.
