Anantapur police in Andhra Pradesh have arrested a five-member gang involved in a high-value online investment fraud, believed to be operated from Cambodia. This is the largest cybercrime gang arrest in the district to date, officials confirmed.
According to the Superintendent of Police, P Jagadish, “This is the biggest cybercrime gang arrest in our district’s history.” The police recovered ₹41.2 lakh in cash, eight mobile phones, a car, twenty ATM cards, fifteen SIM cards, five bank passbooks, ten cheque books and two Wi-Fi routers. The gang was allegedly using fake accounts based in Delhi to convert and transfer money through cryptocurrency channels abroad.
The arrests were made following a complaint by Narasimhappa, a software engineer from Veparla in Rayadurgam Mandal, who reported a loss of ₹1.74 crore in the fraud.
Investigations revealed that the gang targeted victims through a Facebook post offering investment advice. Victims, including Narasimhappa, were added to WhatsApp groups operated from Cambodia and persuaded to use fake apps such as “VIP66 Bajaj Investment” and “K26 Zerodha Market Insights”.
Narasimhappa initially invested ₹12 lakh and was shown a fake return of ₹5.5 lakh, which he was allowed to withdraw. Convinced by the apparent profit, he made additional investments totalling over ₹1.73 crore between April 15 and May 14, 2025. His doubts arose when he was asked to pay 40 percent in taxes and brokerage to withdraw a fake profit of ₹3.4 crore.
Police investigations traced the flow of money to thirteen fake bank accounts across different parts of the country.
The arrested individuals have been identified as Bhavanesh Goyal from West Delhi, Dharmendra Singh from Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh, Sapireddy Kodandaram Durgasai Prasad from Hyderabad, and Kongati Krishna and Vadlamudi Phanikumar from NTR district.
Police also stated that a private bank manager suspected of aiding the gang’s operations is under investigation and expected to be arrested soon.
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