The cyber crime police of Rachakonda on Saturday announced the arrest of three persons, including the manager of HSBC Bank, Bengaluru, for allegedly cheating people by creating and registering fake companies. 

The four accused developed fake online trading apps and cheated people through fraudulent transactions.

Police seized three CPUs, 24 rubber stamps of fake companies, 22 mobile phones and 14 bank account details and cheque books of those companies. Around ₹3.5 crore was frozen from various bank accounts. 

Two weeks ago, a woman from Hayathanagar approached the Cyber Crime police stating that on February 24, she received a WhatsApp message from a Hong Kong based number explaining her about an investment and online trading app ‘Winbiz’. They told her that the app will provide huge profits everyday and asked her to download. Later, the fraudsters instructed her to recharge the app and she recharged for ₹500 using her ICICI bank account. After that, she was added in a WhatsApp group ‘strategy team’. 

“Over a period of time, she invested ₹20 lakh in Winbiz app through several transactions between February 24 and March 15. She was shown a profit of ₹54,39,310.73 virtually, but when she tried to withdraw the said amounts, she found the withdrawal option and credentials blocked from Winbiz app,” police said. 

After realising that she was cheated by the firm, the woman approached police and lodged a complaint.

Update

The dispute between the petitioner and the four defendants were referred for determination to the Lok Adalat and the parties agreed for compromise. The case was settled in the VIIth Additional Metropolitan Magistrate court during a Lok Adalat organised by the District Legal Service Authority, Ranga Reddy district on March 12, 2022.