Three people, including two women, were arrested by the cyber crime wing of the Central Crime Branch for a Rs 3.4 crore online investment fraud carried out through a fake WhatsApp trading group.
The arrested are Murugesh (49) from Melur, and Hepsi (35) and Panchavarnam (33), both from Thoothukudi. They were taken into judicial custody on Thursday. Last month, Balasubramanian (51) from Thanjavur was also arrested in the same case.
According to police, Balasubramanian coordinated the fraud, while Murugesh allegedly let his bank account be used to receive the money. Hepsi and Panchavarnam are accused of helping to get and route bank accounts through intermediaries in exchange for a commission.
The case began with a complaint from Sathyanathan (68) of Adyar. He said he was added to a WhatsApp group called ‘FYERS VIP’, where fraudsters pretending to be officials of a Bengaluru-based brokerage firm asked him to download a trading app. Between July 7 and July 25, he transferred Rs 3.4 crore to 13 different bank accounts.