Fraudster posing as ACB official dupes engineer of Rs 10 lakh in Hyderabad | Hyderabad News

Hyderabad: A fraudster posing as an Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) official has cheated a 61-year-old govt engineer of Rs 10 lakh by falsely claiming that a bribery complaint had been filed against him. On the complaint of the victim, Cyberabad cybercrime police launched a probe.The complainant, an executive engineer of the Telangana roads & buildings department, told police that he received a WhatsApp call on July 15 from a fraudster identifying himself as Narender Reddy of the ACB.“The caller claimed a complaint was registered against him with the ACB and demanded immediate payment to have the complaint withdrawn,” the victim told police.On his instructions, between July 15 and Aug 2, the complainant transferred Rs 10 lakh through 25 transactions via UPI from his and his friends’ accounts to different phone numbers and UPI IDs provided by the fraudster. As the demands persisted, the victim made his own enquiries and realised that he was duped. After lodging an initial complaint through the national cybercrime helpline, he approached Cyberabad cybercrime police on Aug 17.A case was registered under Sections 204 (personating a public servant), 308(2) (extortion), 318(4) (cheating), 319(2) (cheating by personation), 335 (making a false document), 338 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc.), 336(3) (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 340(2) (Using as genuine a forged document or electronic record) read with Section 3(5) (common intention) of the BNS, and Sections 66-C and 66-D of the IT Act.