The Hyderabad Police have successfully uncovered a nationwide cyber fraud ring, leading to the seizure of ₹40,00,000 worth of Tether ($USDT) in India.
This operation is led by the Cyber Crime Police, and it has involved multiple teams from Indian states like Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, New Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, and Bihar.
As per the investigation, the fraud cases covered various types of scams, such as trading fraud, investment fraud, social media scams, and job fraud.
There has been an arrest of 52 individuals, including three key masterminds behind the fraud. In this scam, the individuals have defrauded people of ₹8.83 crore. With this, the police have also seized assets like mobile phones, ATM cards, laptops, passbooks, SIM cards, Aadhar and PAN cards, and ₹47.9 lakh in cash.
Additionally, the police have seized the ₹40 lakh worth of Tether, which highlights that there is involvement of the cryptocurrency.
Three banks are also arrested for their role in facilitating the fraudulent transactions. Shubham Kumar Jha, a deputy manager at RBL Bank in Bangalore, Haroon Rasheed Imamuddin Dharawad, an assistant vice president at Axis Bank, and Kata Srinivasa Rao, a sales manager at Kotak Mahindra Bank, exploited their access to the banking system to enable and support these illegal activities.
DCP Smt. Dara Kavitha and ACP Sri Siva Maruthi have overseen this operation with help from officers such as P. Pramod Kumar and M. Seetharamulu. In 2024, investigated 354 cases, arrested 300 individuals, and refunded ₹41.34 crore to victims.
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