Guntur cybercrime police arrest social media ‘fraudster’ at Indo-Nepal Border

Vijayawada:A team of the Guntur Cyber Crime Police has arrested a person who “impersonated as Telugu Desam NRI convener for defrauding several persons” in the guise of providing them medical assistance.

The accused, Konduri Rajesh (34), was caught at the Indo-Nepal border in Panitanki, Darjeeling district of West Bengal, after a manhunt by the AP CID team.

Police here said in a media release that the accused had fled to Goa, then to the Andaman Islands, and subsequently to Nepal via Uttar Pradesh and he continued his fraudulent activities there too. The accused exploited social media by monitoring hashtags like #help_@naralokesh, #help_@pawankalyan, and #help_@ncbn on Twitter to identify potential victims seeking medical and financial assistance.

He used disposable US phone numbers to contact victims through WhatsApp and posed as the "TDP NRI Convener." To make his scam appear real, he used AP IT minister Nara Lokesh's photograph and sent fake bank credit receipts to the victims, the media release said.

“He would then follow up with calls from Indian numbers, pretending to be bank managers, and convince victims to deposit money into his accounts under the pretext of (beneficiary) charges.”

The investigation has revealed that the accused Rajesh is facing nine cases registered under various sections of the BNS and IT Act. Some even cases in Andhra Pradesh and two in Telangana were registered last year. These were in addition to four cases registered in Telangana during 2022-2023. The amounts defrauded in the nine recent cases total `54.34 lakh, the release added.

The release said the police received 1,614 complaints against him in total, of which nine have been formally registered as cases. Two additional complaints are pending registration in AP and four in Telangana, involving a fraud of `3 lakh. The cumulative amount lost by victims across all cases is estimated at `57 lakh.

The arrest came after a 15-day operation by the investigation team through West Bengal, working in collaboration with the police network there. The accused was caught at Panitanki, under the jurisdiction of Kharibari police station in Darjeeling.