One held for committing financial frauds

Hans India

4 days ago

Tirupati: The Government Railway Police (GRP) and Railway Protection Force (RPF) of Tirupati jointly arrested a fraudster on Sunday who had been cunningly deceiving train passengers by exploiting their trust and misusing their mobile phones for financial fraud. The accused, identified as Venu Babu from Ongole, was apprehended following a coordinated operation by the GRP and RPF teams. He had been targeting unsuspecting passengers by purchasing regular train tickets and blending in with fellow travellers. Through friendly and casual conversations during the journey, he would earn the trust of co-passengers before requesting their mobile phones under the pretext of needing to contact his relatives or friends.
Once in possession of the victim's phone, Babu would covertly access mobile payment applications like PhonePe, Google Pay, and Paytm to transfer funds to bank accounts of his choice. The victims remained unaware of the fraudulent transactions until much later.
During interrogation, Venu Babu confessed to a similar crime committed in October 2024 at Tirupati Railway Station, where he duped a passenger and fraudulently transferred Rs 87,000. Following diligent investigation, the authorities managed to recover the entire defrauded amount from the accused.
Legal proceedings against him are currently underway.
The GRP and RPF have urged passengers to remain cautious during train journeys. They specifically advised travellers not to hand over their mobile phones to strangers and to refrain from accepting food items or any goods from unknown individuals.
Commending the swift action of the security forces, the Railway Department lauded the efforts of Dharmendra and Ramakrishna Reddy of the RPF, along with their teams, under the leadership of RPF Inspector Sandeep Kumar and GRP Inspector Aasirvadam.