The Prakasam district police on Saturday arrested a 36-year-old cyber fraudster who allegedly cheated a girl of ₹17.49 lakh after getting acquainted with her through a matrimonial website.
Superintendent of Police Malika Garg said the accused, Bala Vamsi Krishna from Kakinada, had reportedly introduced himself to a 25-year-old girl and her family members at Maddipadu in Prakasam district that he was a software engineer with a New York-based company and presently working from home following COVID curbs after his transfer to Hyderabad.
The SP said that after promising to marry the woman on January 17, he made her apply for loan through several online loan apps making her believe that he had to return to the U.S. early as per job condition and needed a good credit score by promptly repaying two equated monthly installments for getting visa.
On a complaint from the girl, who reportedly grew suspicious following the way he raised loans through several online apps in no time, the SP constituted a special team. The team under the supervision of Ongole DSP U. Nagaraju achieved a breakthrough after a thorough study of the fund flow from various online apps first to the woman’s bank account and then to the account of the accused and recovered ₹8 lakh in cash and a mobile phone from him.
On interrogation, police found that the accused who had worked in a leading bank's customer care centre after completing B. Pharm in 2008, had allegedly cheated eight gullible women in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana by promising to marry them and make them raise huge sums as loan through the same modus operandi.
Addicted to gambling and other vices, the cyber conman with whom his wife in Bengaluru had parted ways, had also committed ''ATM frauds'' in the past, the SP said. He was reportedly involved in as many as 24 cheating cases.
The SP appealed to girls and their parents to be wary of proposals received from strangers through matrimonial websites and not to raise money for conmen posing themselves as groom to be persons.
The Maddipadu police have booked a case against him under various IPC sections and Information Technology Act. The SP patted the Ongole Rural police and IT Core team for cracking the case swiftly.
