23 cyber criminals have been arrested from multiple states in 14 different cases busted by the cyber crime branch of the Cyberabad police between January 16 and 22.
Data from the police showed that most of the arrests were related to fraud related to trading. Of the 23 accused arrested, 11 were involved in six cases of commercial fraud, while five were related to three cases of “digital arrest” fraud. Two cases of part-time job fraud resulted in three arrests, two cases of loan fraud also resulted in two arrests, and one case of employment fraud resulted in two arrests.
In a significant relief to the victims, the police also secured 354 refund orders in 70 cases from the courts, enabling compensation of ₹1.06 crore to be returned to the affected complainants.
One of the major cases unearthed during the week involved a large-scale online trading and IPO investment scam in which the victim was defrauded of ₹2.90 crore. The police said the scam was perpetrated through WhatsApp groups and a fake trading mobile app run under the name “Alpha Alliance Investment Club”, which was falsely presented as a SEBI-registered foreign institutional investor platform promising guaranteed returns. Two accused from Andhra Pradesh, identified as Shivakanth Raju Datla and Surya Bhagavan Morapaka, were arrested for allegedly providing bank accounts to divert the defrauded money in exchange for commission.
Another high-profile case involved a ‘digital arrest’ scam in which a 74-year-old woman was duped of ₹56.50 crore. The accused allegedly impersonated telecom officials, Mumbai Police and RBI authorities and threatened the victim with arrest and legal action through phone calls and WhatsApp video calls. Two accused from Andhra Pradesh, identified as Kesana Manikya Rao and Kesana Laxmi Nandini, were also arrested here for creating and providing bank accounts to facilitate the fraud.
Published – 23 Jan 2026 20:32 IST
