Two persons were arrested in two separate investment fraud cases detected by the cyber crime wing of the Malkajgiri Police during the week between May 3 and May 9.

In the first case, Roumya Ranjan Panda, a resident of Bishnupur in Baleswar district of Odisha, was arrested for supplying bank accounts on a commission basis to cyber fraudsters for facilitating the transfer of cheated money.

The case dates back to September 2025, when the complainant was deceived through a Bitcoin trading scam on hodlhodl.com and WhatsApp after fraudsters promised high returns and gradually induced investments. Investigators said the victim initially lost ₹9.28 lakh.

In March 2026, another accused posing as “Vishal” from Odisha accessed the complainant’s Gmail account, closed his cybercrime complaint using forged documents, and along with another impersonator identified as “Roumya Ranjan Panda”, extorted more money through fake FIRs, court orders and WhatsApp groups. Police said the complainant ultimately lost ₹34.48 lakh after recovering only ₹9.71 lakh.

In the second case, Autukuri Santosh Kumar, from Guntur district in Andhra Pradesh was arrested.

The complainant in the case was added to WhatsApp groups named “Stock Market Think Tank-IV” and “Free Service Group-1160”, operated by a person identified as Rakshita Ved using multiple numbers. Administrators of the groups shared stock market tips and fake profit screenshots to gain the victim’s confidence before persuading him to install the “FISD PRO” application and complete KYC formalities. Investigators said the victim was initially allowed a small withdrawal to build trust and later invested ₹41.62 lakh, while the app falsely displayed profits of ₹3.76 crore. When the complainant attempted to withdraw ₹20 lakh, customer support demanded a 20% commission, revealing the fraud. The victim ended up losing ₹41.56 lakh and recovered only ₹6,000.

The cyber crime police said refunds amounting to ₹4.31 lakh were processed through court orders and returned to victims during the week. Officials also cautioned citizens against investment offers received through WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram and advised the public not to download or invest through unknown applications or websites.