Hyderabad: A 23-year-old man from Rajasthan allegedly used fake escort-service links promoted on Instagram to dupe people across the country, routing their money through mule bank accounts and converting credit card payments into online shopping gift cards. The accused was arrested in Gujarat by Adilabad police in connection with a cyber fraud in which a victim from Sangidi village in Bela mandal lost ₹4.2 lakh through 16 unauthorised transactions.Adilabad superintendent of police Akhil Mahajan said on Monday that the accused, Dinesh Patel, a native of Udaipur district in Rajasthan, was identified through technical evidence, mobile phone numbers and online transaction details during the investigation.The case came to light after the victim received a link to royalescort.com from an unknown number on WhatsApp. On opening the link, he was shown a screen prompting him to pay ₹2,200 through UPI. Believing the payment request to be genuine, he made the payment. However, money was subsequently debited from accounts linked to his credit cards without his authorisation. A total of ₹4,20,210 was siphoned off through 16 transactions.Following the victim’s complaint, Bela police registered a case and began tracing the digital trail. The investigation led them to Patel, who was taken into custody in Gujarat. Police said they found that 220 complaints had been registered against him across the country, including 20 in Telangana.Mahajan said police had also secured ₹2 lakh of the defrauded amount and completed the process of returning it to the victim through court proceedings.According to investigators, Patel allegedly procured SIM cards using other people’s identity documents and circulated links to fake escort-service websites on Instagram. People who contacted him through these links were subsequently approached on Telegram and WhatsApp and persuaded to pay for various services. However, the promised services were never provided.Police said the accused used different methods to move and spend the money obtained through the fraud. Payments received from victims were routed through mule bank accounts, while credit card payments were used to buy gift cards on online shopping platforms such as Amazon and Flipkart. These gift cards were then used to obtain goods, making it harder to directly trace the proceeds of the fraud.Investigators also found links to similar cases reported in Telangana. The accused allegedly committed cyber frauds within the limits of Osmania University, Vanasthalipuram and Narsingi police stations in Hyderabad.Police seized three mobile phones, a mini iPad and an HP laptop allegedly used in the cyber offences. Patel reportedly told investigators that he had purchased the devices with money obtained from victims. Police are examining the seized devices for further evidence and to establish details of other offences.
