Cyber conmen extort Rs 52 lakh from Chandragiri ex-MLA by posing as CBI officers

TIRUPATI: In a typical sequel style case of Akshay Kumar starrer Special 26, cyber criminals posing as CBI officers, duped and extorted Rs 52 lakh from Chandragiri ex-MLA NR Jayadeva Naidu.
Trouble started for the 85-year-old ex MLA, who lives at Pakala, when he received a WhatsApp call about two days ago from a cyber fraudster who introduced himself as a CBI officer from Mumbai.
The caller told the ex MLA that the CBI was investigating a money laundering case against one Naresh Goel at Mumbai and that his name had surfaced during the investigation.
During the call, the cyber fraudster posing himself as a CBI officer, intimidated Jayadeva Naidu and warned that he took shall be arrested in the money laundering case, if he doesn't follow his instructions.
Subsequently, the caller convinced the ex MLA that he will have to transfer the entire money in his bank accounts to an "RBI account" and that the money will be returned back to him after a brief enquiry.
The cyber criminals, who intimidated the 85-year-old man by saying that he would be arrested if he didn't follow their instructions, coerced the ex MLA to transfer Rs 52 lakh to their accounts.
It was only 24 hours after the money was transferred on 6th July, that the 85 year old man came back to his senses and felt something was really suspicious about the entire episode, and subsequently approached the national cyber crime cell and lodged a complaint on Sunday.
Subsequently, Jayadeva Naidu also met Tirupati SP Harshavardhan Raju later and lodged a formal complaint of the episode in which cyber criminals trapped him and duped him of Rs 52 lakh.
Confirming the incident to TOI, Tirupati SP said that this peculiar modus operandi of the cyber criminals was on the rise across the country in the recent times. He recalled that a Visakhapatnam based doctor was trapped in a similar way by cyber conmen who duped away Rs.1.5 crore in that episode.
"With regards to this case, a case has been registered at the Pakala police station and our cyber teams have also swung into action and we are sure of arresting the gang involved in this cyber extortion case at the earliest. Police department's appeal to the people is not to panic in such cases wherein they receive calls from anonymous persons posing as CBI or ED officials. They should immediately reach out to the nearest police station and seek support without falling prey to the intimidating tactics of the cyber fraudsters", Harshavardhan Raju appealed.