Cybercrime: Fraudsters posing as ‘SBI telecallers’ dupe thousands of people, 209 cases filed against gang

Cybercrime: Fraudsters posing as ‘SBI telecallers’ dupe thousands of people, 209 cases filed against gang


Hyderabad News: The police had received several complaints where SBI customers were tricked by the gang by promising the customers of earning credit points, renewal of credit cards etc.

Key Highlights

  • The Cyberabad Police arrested the tricksters from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Uttam Nagar in Delhi
  • The prime accused in this case has been identified as Nikhil Madaan
  • One of the accused opened 49 bank accounts, in which money would be credited from the customers

Hyderabad: A gang operating as ‘SBI telecallers’ and committing cyber frauds across the country, was busted by the Cyberabad police in a series of arrests across the country. In November, the series of arrests were started by the Cyberabad police after a thorough investigation over a period of three months. According to the police, 14 accused involved in the cyber fraud case have been arrested.

The police had received several complaints where SBI customers were tricked by the gang by promising the customers of earning credit points, renewal of credit cards etc. The Cyberabad Police arrested the tricksters from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Uttam Nagar in Delhi. The prime accused in this case has been identified as Nikhil Madaan, who is a graduate from Uttam Nagar, the Times of India reported.

According to Cyberabad commissioner of police M Stephen Ravindra, it is one of the biggest cyber frauds in our country and in the past year, the gang have allegedly made 33,000 calls. People have been defrauded hundreds and crores of rupees and nearly 5000 cases would be registered against the gang across the country, the commissioner said.

After the gang gets access to a person’s credit card details through third-party apps, they make a call to the customer and offer them various services. A call spoofing application was supplied by one of the accused to build trust among the customers that the call was from an SBI toll-free number, the TOI reported.

One of the accused opened 49 bank accounts, in which money would be credited from the customers after they were defrauded. The police said that the gang used to collect CVV numbers, card expiry numbers and OTP from the customers, by assuring them that they are calling from SBI.

A year ago, a call centre was opened by Nikhil in Uttam Nagar where he employed 10 people to make calls. As of now, 14 cases have been registered in Cyberabad and 209 cases across the country have been lodged against the gang.

Three laptops, 30 mobile phones, cars and motorcycles have been recovered by the police from the accused.