Khammam police probe Australian cyber scam money trail through local bank accounts
HYDERABAD: Alleged cyber fraud kingpin Potru Praveen, already under investigation by Cyberabad police, is now facing a parallel probe by Khammam police over suspected laundering of proceeds from Australian cyber scams through locally sourced bank accounts.
Probe widens to Khammam links and bank accounts
Khammam investigators are examining whether bank accounts opened by local residents were used to launder money siphoned off from Australian victims of a call centre scam allegedly operated from Ayyappa Society in Hyderabad. Praveen, a native of Khammam district, is being investigated alongside the Cyberabad police probe.
Cyberabad police registered the first case against Praveen on November 28 last year for allegedly running a fraudulent call centre under the name Ridge IT Solutions. However, the first arrest was made by VM Banjar police station of Khammam commissionerate in the first week of January.
17 arrested for facilitating money laundering
Praveen and 17 others were arrested for allegedly luring individuals into opening bank accounts and sharing access credentials, which were then used to launder cyber fraud proceeds. Police said these accounts are linked to hundreds of cyber fraud cases registered across the country.
“The case is under investigation, and we are collecting more details about the fraud,” said Kalluru Vasundhara Yadav, ACP of Kalluru sub-division.
Praveen is currently out on bail in the VM Banjar police station case. Investigators said Cyberabad police have sought case details from their Khammam counterparts to verify whether local bank accounts were used to launder crime proceeds generated from Australian victims.
Modus operandi of Australian call centre scam
According to Cyberabad cyber crime officials, Praveen and his cousin Prakash opened Ridge IT Solutions in Ayyappa Society in 2024. They allegedly hired Y Ganesh and M Chenna Keshava, both natives of Khammam, to run the call centre, along with seven telecallers from West Bengal.
The accused allegedly targeted visitors to select websites, including porn portals, by pushing pop-up alerts claiming their operating systems were infected with malware and urging them to call a number displayed on the screen. Calls were answered by telecallers operating from Ayyappa Society.
“The accused made the victims install a remote desktop application on the pretext of scanning and fixing the malware problem. They then induced them to carry out bank transactions towards service charges and noted down internet banking details,” an investigator said.
Using these credentials, money was first transferred to Australian bank accounts, mainly of Indians, and later routed through different methods to encash it in India. Police suspect Indian bank accounts obtained from victims in Khammam were also used to launder the proceeds.
Court observations and ongoing investigation
Police said Praveen is a graduate who worked in the UK for a few years before allegedly venturing into cyber fraud in recent years. Before his arrest by Khammam police, he secured pre-arrest bail from the high court in the Cyberabad case on December 11, 2025.
While granting bail, the court observed that Praveen was arrayed as an accused solely on the basis of confessional statements of co-accused, that he was not present at the scene during the raid, and that no victim statements were recorded. The court directed him to cooperate with investigators.
A Khammam police source said some absconding accused in the VM Banjar police station case are also attempting to secure pre-arrest bail. “The accused are not cooperating with the probe. We are relying on bank transaction analysis to find out how they executed the fraud,” an investigator said.
