Two Arrested in Adilabad for Inter-State Crypto Scam Worth Ten Crore Rupees

Police in Adilabad arrested two men on Sunday for running a large crypto investment fraud that targeted hundreds of people across Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Details of the Scam

The Adilabad One Town police caught Polamarasetty Ratnaraju, 47, and Dondapati Lakshmana Rao alias Lazarus, 46, both belonging to Andhra Pradesh. Superintendent of Police Akhil Mahajan stated that the six-member inter-State gang cheated about 500 people and collected around ten crore rupees. The gang ran a Ponzi scheme and multi-level marketing network through a website, where they promised victims that their money would double in two years.

Complaints and Seizures

The police action started after a complaint by Narsimulu from Ruyyadi village in Adilabad district, who put seven lakh fifty thousand rupees into the scheme in 2023. He went to the police when the accused did not return his cash despite asking many times. Two other local victims also reported losing seven lakh fifty thousand rupees and six lakh twenty-one thousand rupees. Officers seized two mobile phones and documents for two properties linked to the accused, and booked them under Indian Penal Code sections for cheating and criminal breach of trust, along with money circulation ban laws.

Context

Ponzi schemes usually pay returns to old investors using money collected from new participants instead of actual profits. These illegal setups often target regular people by promising unusually high returns in a short time. Police continue to look for other members of the inter-State gang.