Chennai police arrest 3 in Tiruchy for Rs 1.17 crore online investment fraud

CHENNAI: The Central Crime Branch (CCB) Cyber Crime police have arrested three individuals in Tiruchy in connection with a major online trading and investment fraud amounting to approximately Rs 1.17 crore. The arrests follow a meticulous investigation into a complaint filed by a victim from Chennai.

The victim, A Manoharan (58) of Vannarapettai, Chennai, was allegedly lured into fraudulent WhatsApp groups by individuals impersonating representatives of HSBC Securities and Bajaj Finserv Securities. The accused promised high returns from stock market investments. Believing these false claims, Manoharan transferred a total of Rs 1.17 crore between March 22, 2025, and May 14, 2025, to various bank accounts as instructed. He realized he had been cheated when the fraudsters gave excuses and demanded more money upon his request to withdraw his invested funds.

Based on Manoharan's complaint filed on September 13, 2025, at the Greater Chennai Police Commissioner's office, the CCB Cyber Crime Wing registered a case and began an investigation.

The probe revealed that a large portion of the defrauded sum, about Rs 31 lakh, was transferred to a "first-layer" mule bank account. From there, Rs. 2,00,045 was moved to a second-layer account held in the name of one Praveen (A1) at a City Union Bank.

Technical and forensic analysis of bank transactions showed that this account had also been used in cybercrime cases registered in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Karnataka, as per the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP). Further, money was withdrawn via ATMs in Kumbakonam and Thanjavur. Police identified this as an "organised mule activity," with around Rs 23 lakh siphoned from other victims through this account.

Following these leads, a special team from the CCB Cyber Crime police station travelled to Tiruchy. On Wednesday they arrested three individuals allegedly involved in collecting fake bank accounts, laundering the fraud proceeds, and converting the illicit money into cryptocurrency.

The arrested have been identified as G Praveen (20), a college student from Tiruchy, who provided his bank account to cyber criminals for a commission, A Siddhik Basha (26), an auto-rickshaw driver from Tiruchy, allegedly involved in collecting multiple fake bank accounts for illegal fund transfers and Binoy Khan (32), an online trader from Tiruchy, who allegedly took the fraud money and converted it into USDT cryptocurrency via the Binance app.

Police seized three mobile phones (with SIM cards), one laptop, one tablet, and relevant documents from the accused. They were produced before a court on December 11, 2025, and remanded to judicial custody.