Hyderabad: Hyderabad cyber crime police have registered two separate cases against head of App Store in India and officials of Telegram after two city residents reportedly lost over ₹21 lakh in online investment and part-time job frauds. The action comes days after senior Google and Meta executives were booked as accused in similar cyber crime cases.In the first case, a 62-year-old retired employee from Somajiguda lost ₹12.7 lakh after investing through an alleged fraudulent application available on App Store.According to the complaint, the victim came across an Instagram advertisement for a stock trading platform in the last week of June. After clicking on the advertisement, he was contacted by fraudsters identified as Sonal Jagannath Naik and Kunal Sumaya.“They made me download an app, JBara, from App Store. Encouraged by the initial small profits of Rs 15,000, I invested Rs 12.7 lakh between June 30 and July 23 by transferring the amount to different bank accounts through the app,” the victim said.When he later attempted to withdraw the virtual profit of ₹25.4 lakh shown on the app, the fraudsters allegedly blocked access and demanded an additional ₹47.89 lakh towards an IPO subscription to enable withdrawals.Realising he had been duped, the victim approached the police. Based on his complaint, cyber crime police on Thursday registered a case against Sonal Naik, Sumaya and the head of App Store, India, under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Information Technology Act.In the second case, a 59-year-old housewife from Almasguda lost ₹8.57 lakh in a part-time job scam operated through Telegram.The victim told police that she came across an Instagram advertisement offering part-time jobs on July 26. Clicking on the advertisement redirected her to a Telegram channel, where she was offered paid Google review tasks.Handlers using the names Aarohi Verma, Divya Mittal and Sanjeev Kumar allegedly gained her trust by paying small amounts for completing review and rating assignments.“They paid Rs 9,670 in small batches for completing smaller tasks like reviews and ratings. Subsequently in the name of merchant order task, they asked me to transfer a fixed amount to an UPI ID to receive 30% profit. After the initial transfer of Rs 3,000, they kept making me deposit more, promising a full refund along with profit. I ended up transferring over Rs 8.5 lakh on July 27 and 28 and lost the entire amount,” the woman said.Following her complaint, police booked five alleged fraudsters along with officials responsible for Telegram’s compliance and grievance redressal mechanisms in India under relevant provisions of the BNS and the IT Act.“We will be issuing notices to the accused parties to take down the fraudulent applications and to provide details of the accused,” a cyber crime official said.
