Three arrested for duping a man of Rs 1.32 crore in Madurai

MADURAI: The Madurai district cybercrime police on Saturday arrested three persons for allegedly duping a man of Rs 1.32 crore online on the pretext of a part-time job here. The suspects were identified as K Vadivelu (44) from Pondicherry, E Jeyaraman (30) from Pondicherry and K Ramalaingam (48) from Villupuram. The officials also seized gadgets including a laptop and mobile phones, which were allegedly used by the suspects to carry out the crime.

According to police, on June 28, the cyber police received a complaint stating that a man had been cheated of Rs 1.32 crore by unidentified persons. The victim had taken an online job for which he was asked to pay a certain amount of money and perform an assigned task. Upon completion, the money will be refunded along with an additional amount for completing the task. Soon after, the suspect began insisting on paying higher amounts, blocked his Telegram account and defrauded him of millions, police said.

Following the complaint, the police froze the account from which the transaction took place, and it had a balance of Rs 2.18 crore. After further investigation, officials arrested the suspects, who are believed to be part of a larger gang operating from New Delhi.

“The main gang has duped several people in Andhra Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tripura, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. While Rs 1.32 crore belongs to the complainant, the rest could belong to others who fell prey to the fraud,” the police added.

Meanwhile, SP BK Arvind warned those involved in similar crimes and also urged the public to immediately alert the police by calling 1930 or via www.cybercrime.gov.in.